letter to the editor from Richard Corbett MEP

4 March 2005

Hull Daily Mail & Hull Advertiser

Sir,

Oliver Marriott should check his facts before he gets so worked up about waste disposal in Holderness (letters, 3 March).

He thinks a directive from “Brussels” is forcing the council to replace landfill sites with incinerators. But this is completely false.

The 2002 Landfill Directive simply requires landfill sites to meet certain standards so that the damage they inflict on their local environment is minimal. The choice between landfill and incineration is a decision for local elected councillors, not “Brussels”. They can choose either option, provided that agreed environmental standards are met in either case.

Anyway, “Brussels” does not force us to do anything. The EU is not some dictatorial alien power – it is simply the place where we meet with our neighbours to agree a common approach to those issues that are wider than our national borders. The environment is one of those issues.

There is nothing sinister about this – it's just a matter of common sense.

Richard Corbett

Labour MEP for Yorkshire & the Humber