An open letter to Powerfuel Portland Ltd

Re: the proposed Portland incinerator plans

Dear Sirs,

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is the National Governing Body for all forms of recreational and competitive boating and manages the British Sailing Team - the most successful national Olympic sailing team of all time.

We are proud that Portland is the home of Olympic sailing in the UK and are calling on you now as Directors of Powerfuel to allay the fears of our athletes by providing greater clarity on the approach taken to environmental modelling and how this was applied to the human health data assessment. This reassurance is essential as we all want Portland to remain the home of British Sailing.

The RYA’s heritage and connection with Portland is deeply rooted. We have close ties to Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) which is host to multiple significant international and national events annually, which play a substantial role in supporting Portland’s tourist economy. Since the Academy became the official site for hosting sailing at the 2012 Olympic Games, the British Sailing Team has called it its home. WPNSA is used by around 100,000 people a year and contributes an estimated £5 million to the local economy.

As the new Olympic cycle commences, we see the British Sailing Team’s presence growing significantly in Portland with more training happening at home in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Games and beyond that to the 2032 Brisbane Games. There has never been a more important time for Weymouth and Portland in hosting our elite athletes and the events that support our nation in this sport.

Sadly, members of the British Olympic Sailing Team believe that their home is under threat. This has moved them to act alongside the local community in supporting the appeal against the plans to build the incinerator at Portland.  We respect their right to protest and, as public role models, we recognise that our athletes have a powerful voice to drive positive change for good.

The health and wellbeing of all participants in our sport, particularly our athletes, is a paramount concern to the RYA, and while we did not object to the planning application in 2020 on the grounds of navigational safety, there are now many questions being raised regarding potential impacts to human health from the incinerator, should it go ahead.

From a wider environmental perspective (the RYA published its Sustainability Strategy and Pathway to Zero Action Plan in 2020) we request clarity on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from the plant. While a proportion of the fuel is of recent biological origin, the new “Simpler Recycling” regulations, coming into force on 31st March this year, will require the separation of organic materials from commercial waste streams. 

A key focus area this year for our environmental outreach programme The Green Blue is the circular economy, and recycling of kit and equipment. Textile recycling will become the norm as new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations come into force within the EU this year, which will also impact the UK market. New approaches are providing solutions now for sails, clothing and technical gear, further reducing the material stream suitable for incineration. 

Further, there has been significant progress on increasing the proportion of truly renewable energy in our grid mix since your original application. We understand there may be grid constraints on Portland, so clarity over the evidence base for those constraints would be helpful given they feed into the narrative of net emissions reductions through shore power connections.

Given the time that has elapsed since your original claims were made, please clarify how these changes impact your calculation of net environmental benefit, given most of the fuel will now be fossil-derived plastics and other materials and the grid is rapidly decarbonising, and EPR regulations will start to impact incinerator feedstock volumes. This will assist further with our response to our predominantly young elite team, who are increasingly concerned about climate change, biodiversity and pollution.

We would ask you to respond to the points raised in this letter by the end of March.

We would be pleased to meet with you to discuss our concerns further.

Yours faithfully,

Sara Sutcliffe (RYA CEO) & Mark Robinson (RYA Director of Performance)