Sir, – Local newspapers have recently highlighted the drastic cuts to local services planned by North Yorkshire County Council in the face of continued reductions in Government funding. This in spite of them having already increased council tax by the maximum allowed (1.99 per cent).

These cuts will, in one or more ways, adversely affect every member of the North Yorkshire tax-paying community.

North Yorkshire residents should therefore understand that unbelievably the council is simultaneously increasing costs by continuing to negotiate a £1.4bn 25-year contract to transport waste from all over Yorkshire to a huge incinerator to be built in open countryside at Allerton Park near Knaresborough.

The council claimed that this facility would result in a £324m saving over the 25 years of the contract. The Government however recently withdrew financial support for this scheme considering it to be no longer necessary, and that other facilities, available locally, could provide costeffective solutions.

In light of the withdrawal of Government financial support, calculations now show that this scheme would be £157m more expensive than other methods. That would be an additional £6.5m burden on council tax payers for each of the next 25 years.

Worse still, the documents for the recent council budget meeting reveal that over the past five years the council has taken money, which should have been spent on services, to build up a “PIP” fund of £77m, to pay for anticipated losses if the Allerton Park incinerator goes ahead. In 2014/15 they plan to add a further £12.1m to this fund. This demonstrates that cancelling the incinerator project would save money.

When Government support for this project was withdrawn, support was simultaneously withdrawn for an incinerator project planned by Bradford and Calderdale Council. Unlike North Yorkshire, Bradford and Calderdale have actively examined alternative solutions available locally, and this has resulted in a decision to utilise facilities provided by a new multi-fuel energy plant already under construction at Ferrybridge (completion mid-2015).

The developers of this facility are actively seeking contracts with local councils for waste-processing, and contracts have already been signed with Bradford and Calderdale, Doncaster, Rotherham and Wakefield councils. The disposal cost at the Ferrybridge facility would be £80 per ton as opposed to the £120 per ton of the proposed Allerton Park incinerator.

In view of this, why is the council not considering using this facility, which offers significant cost savings and is virtually on its doorstep?

R SINGLETON Allerton Park, Knaresborough.