I AM writing in reply to the two letters I read here on May 20 regarding the new incinerator plans.

I appreciate the fact that I am in no position to comment on the possible aesthetics of a new incinerator on the Walworth Industrial Estate and I don’t live nearby so I apologise if my argument seems unsympathetic to nearby residents.

The UK as a whole is already heavily reliant on "dirty" and/or imported energy and is not in a position to be picking and choosing where it comes from.

Incinerators may not be the most efficient sources of energy, but that isn’t really the point.

The point is that it is a constructive way of disposing of waste while making minimal energy losses unlike landfill for instance.

Now, while it may seem nicer for nearby residents if it were plonked in an empty field somewhere, Hampshire countryside is some of the most valuable land in the country and could be utilised in a million and one more constructive and environmentally sound ways.

To those concerned about air pollution, I would appreciate it if you could avoid driving your petrol / diesel car or using electricity in the future and I would challenge anybody to find out exactly where their own energy has come from and I don’t see where people think the chemicals on treated wood will go even if they aren’t burnt; the point is that most of them are not produced with the environment in mind either.

A large proportion of this wood (to my limited knowledge) will otherwise go into a landfill site or be dumped on the ground: either way those chemicals are going to eventually find themselves in the environment all the same.

I hate the way our energy is produced just as much as the next person, if not a bit more.

But I really think that everyone involved should be thinking a little bit harder about their own lifestyle before they start condemning the means that makes it possible in the first place.

The whole proposition is clearly not one to be taken lightly, but I see it as a good thing how it has highlighted some of the lack of understanding of how energy is produced.

I hope Hampshire County Council can come to a decision that everyone can tolerate.

Geoffrey Liddell, Goodworth Clatford