Remondis incinerator: Teresa Harding on approval being granted for Swanbank energy from waste plant

The controversial $400 million project was granted coordinated project status by the state’s Coordinator General but it will need to go to the Ipswich council when all is said and done. Here’s what comes next.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said her council is powerless to stop a controversial waste incinerator being built in the city if the state’s Coordinator General gives it a tick of approval.

Waste company Remondis’ $400 million energy from waste plant was declared a coordinated project by the Coordinator General last year.

The Coordinator-General is currently outlining the social and environmental matters the company must address in an environmental impact statement to be assessed before full backing is given by the state.

Waste company Remondis wants to build the $400 million plant on land at Swanbank.

It would then go to Ipswich City Council for final approval.

Cr Harding said assessing the environmental and social impacts of the project and conducting community consultation was in the state government’s domain.

She declared if it gets to that stage, the council could only assess the merits of the project against the organisation’s planning scheme.

As the Swanbank site is already designated for landfill and waste operations, Cr Harding said there would not be any ground for the council to stand on to refuse it over concerns about the environment or how it would impact residents.

“You’ve really got the situation where council won’t be able to refuse it because it’s in line with the planning scheme,” she said.

“Hypothetically if councillors wish to vote against it it’s potentially misconduct because they haven’t followed the law.

“The council is not allowed to take into account environmental issues.”

Cr Harding said she like everyone else she was waiting for the full details about the project to be released.

The coordinated project process.

“What we’re trying to do as a council is just making sure that everyone has as much information as possible,” she said.

“We want residents to be as informed as possible and give them the opportunity to ask questions.

“At the moment we don’t actually know what’s being proposed, we don’t know the technology.

“I have asked Remondis many times to show us the technology and they haven’t shared it with us. They said it’s up to the state government to release that.”

It could take up to 18 months for Remondis to put together an environmental impact statement with community consultation to follow, meaning it is likely to be more than two years before a final decision is reached.

All four of Ipswich’s state MPs penned a joint letter opposing the project ahead of last year’s election.

“At this stage on a personal basis I don’t support it,” Cr Harding said.

Information sessions have so far been disrupted, or cancelled, due to protests. Bill Heck was arrested at Riverlink Shopping Centre in August.

“I look forward to seeing all the documentation and having a really good honest, robust discussion with the community.

“Nowhere else in Queensland is this being looked at. This is the first one in Queensland. I think Remondis deserve to be heard. I think the residents deserve to be heard. I think if one happens there will be many of them. At the moment we’ve been given very little information.

“No one has come up to me and said I really want this to happen. No one. That’s not to say there aren’t people that do support it. I’ve had none of them contact me.”

Two Remondis community information booths due to be held at shopping centres this month were both were called off.

The company said the first event on September 16 in Redbank Plains was cancelled by centre management “due to alleged threats made to the centre by phone and email” and the second on September 24 in Silkstone as the centre’s leasing agent was put off by protests.

A third information session is due to be held at Collingwood Park Shopping Centre on November 13 from 10am.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.