Councillor under fire over incinerator plan

A COUNCILLOR has been accused of having a 'conflict of interest' over plans for Plymouth's waste incinerator.

Ivybridge councillor Roger Croad is in charge of waste at Devon County Council and also chairman of the South West Waste Partnership, which is running the competition to select the company which will build and operate an incinerator in South Devon.

The partnership of Plymouth, Devon and Torbay councils is considering four bids to build a £100 million incinerator, including one at New England Quarry near Ivybridge.

Luke Pollard, Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for South West Devon, has written to Cllr Croad, a member of the ruling Conservative group on the council, asking him to resign his waste portfolio.

Mr Pollard claimed there was a conflict of interest because Mr Croad's electors in Ivybridge were campaigning against waste firm Viridor's plan for an incinerator at New England Quarry.

"If we're to stop the incinerator we need Ivybridge's Devon county councillor to be fully behind the campaign opposing the incinerator," Mr Pollard said. "Leading Ivybridge's campaign is incompatible with being in charge of the body considering Lee Mill as an incinerator location. I believe he cannot do both properly.

"Local people I've spoken to want reassurance that having failed to tell them about plans for an incinerator on their doorstep, our local councillor is going to do all he can to stop the incinerator.

"You cannot fight against the incinerator on one hand and lead the search for an incinerator on the other. I feel that's a horrendous and obvious conflict of interest," he said.

Cllr Croad responded by saying he did not believe there was a conflict of interest and he would not, therefore, be resigning his waste portfolio at this time. He told The Herald: "I don't agree with Mr Pollard's assertion that I have a conflict of interest in this matter.

"As Mr Pollard may or may not find out, when you enter public life you should do so in the knowledge that sometimes you will have to make hard choices. The Viridor proposal is just that: a proposal. We will have a better idea after studying their planning application when it's submitted.

"At this time I will not be resigning."

He said he might consider resigning from the council waste role in the future, but only if there was a proven conflict of interest.