I saw this article while looking at nappies online (I am 34+2 with DC1 (a DD)) and it strikes me as utterly ridiculous. You can tell just from the way the article is put together, and the tone of it, that the bald statement of fact that the idea was 'discredited years ago' or whatever it says, is a gross oversimplification: it's got the stamp of the Daily Mail all over it - right-wing knee-jerkism and a blokey black-and-white 'common sense' attitude to the truth that often means such oversimplifications (sorry, rant over!)
Like you say, it is debated but one thing that's certainly true is that using cloth nappies cuts down on landfill, which is a major problem in itself. Councils give money to women thinking of going over to cloth nappies because it will actually save them money on landfill costs. So the idea that this is a waste of taxpayers' money is also ridiculous, because the whole point of the scheme is that it will save taxpayers' money. Just part of the DM's anti-women, anti-environment, anti-intelligence BS approach to selling newspapers to people who want to be angry in my opinion 
And I've got no agenda - not sure if I'm going to use cloth or disposables yet and have no other children than my bump ... :)