Sir – Councillors Mitchell and Belson complain about The Oxford Times’ use of the word ‘independent’ (Letters, January 22) when reporting that the county council had refused to commission a health risk assessment of their incinerator plans in response to concerns from the public.

Far more important, in my opinion, is the repeated use, by the same councillors, of the adjective ‘safe’ to describe waste incineration. Even the Health Protection Agency does not claim that incinerators are ‘safe’. The HPA position statement confirms that incinerators emit pollutants and that there is an associated risk.

Oxfordshire County Council should have obtained a full assessment of the health risks of the proposed waste management techniques prior to initiating any procurement process, in order that a properly informed public consultation could have taken place.

Instead, the choice of technology was left to the market, and the assessment of health risk will be left to the local Primary Care Trust, leaving citizens saddled with having to fight a rearguard action against incineration at this very late stage.

How can the people of Oxfordshire have any confidence in their Conservative-led county council when it seems to have so little concern for their health and wellbeing?

A public retraction, by councillors Mitchell and Belson, of the assertion that incineration is safe would be a good place to begin. Then perhaps we could have a reasonable discussion about whether the risks posed by waste incineration are indeed acceptable or not.

Angela Jones, Appleford