THE debate about York's rubbish disposal has taken a new twist, with your report that Yorwaste has applied to extend the existing disposal site, outside Rufforth.
Once, North Yorkshire County Council was responsible for York's rubbish disposal. The old York City Council merely carried out the physical work on an agency basis. NYCC decided to shut the Foss Island incinerator and begin dumping on flat land at Rufforth.
When York became a unitary authority, it inherited Rufforth tip. Also, it inherited a contractual agreement with Yorwaste, an "arms length" company created by NYCC to carry out waste collection and disposal.
Has the City of York Council been legally locked into the present arrangement, and is this preventing a switch to a better disposal policy eg: transport by barge or rail to distant landfill sites? For it surely is better to reclaim old pits and quarries further afield, than to dump on flat land around the city.
Ultimately, our descendants will surely not wish York to be surrounded by mountains of our generation's detritus!
Paul F Hepworth,
Windmill Rise,
Holgate, York.
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