There would be no significant risk to people’s health if a new clinical waste incinerator was built in the Huntingdonshire village of Woodhurst, an expert representing the developer has said.

Dr Amanda Owen said assessments she had conducted showed that even in a worst case scenario the potential impacts of a clinical waste incinerator would be “insignificant”.

The comments were made at a planning appeal hearing to consider the proposals to expand a waste facility run by Envar Composting Limited in Somersham Road.

The company has composted green waste at the site for a number of years.

However, a planning application to expand the site to include a pellet fertiliser production facility, a woodchip biomass fuelled storage building, a vehicle refuelling station, as well as a healthcare waste incinerator, was refused last year by Cambridgeshire County Council.

The company appealed the decision and an inquiry into the plans is underway, during which a planning inspector will consider if the development can go ahead.

RECOMMENDED READING: Start of public inquiry into Envar incinerator

A number of members of the public had raised concerns about the potential for the clinical waste incinerator to cause harm to people’s health.

A representation submitted by Elizabeth Blows, CEO of the Raptor Foundation, based near to the facility, said: “No one can say ‘it is a safe incinerator’. We as members of the community do not know that and what is really going through the incinerator and it will be running 365 days of the year.

“There would be air pollution, additional dioxins within the soil and light pollution.”

A statement submitted by Mr and Mrs Thorne from St Ives said they were concerned that burning medical waste was “bound to endanger St Ives residents”.

Pamela Benson, from Huntingdon, raised concerns that “toxins” from the facility could “endanger the food supply” at the farms nearby.

However, at one of the hearings (February 23) Dr Owens said the risk to health was “very low”.

She explained that assessments had been carried out based on the worst case scenario of someone living nearby who only ate food that was grown and produced in the area.

RECOMMENDED READING: Envar appeal medical waste incinerator refusal in Woodhurst

Dr Owen said this assessment was “significantly over conservative”, but said even in these circumstances the amount of harmful dioxins people would be exposed to would be only one-per cent of what was considered a “tolerable daily intake”.

She said this impact was considered to be “insignificant”.

Dr Owen also explained that she had also calculated the risk level of someone developing cancer due to dioxins from the incinerator.

She said the risk level deemed to be appropriate in the UK was effectively one in 100,000.

She told the hearing that her assessment of the incinerator’s risk level was approximately 0.00000048 for an adult and 0.0000027 for a child.

Dr Owen said: “The assessments I have undertaken suggest the risk is very low.

“We do have to remember that nothing is without risk in this world, we could walk down stairs and outside and there is a risk to that as well.”

The inquiry into the proposals continues.