Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has refused planning consent for a large-scale energy-from-waste facility in Cheshire, amid concerns about incineration over-capacity in the county.
On Friday (July 20), the minister upheld Cheshire East councils decision to refuse plans, submitted by US-owned firm Covanta Energy, for a 370,000 tonne capacity incinerator at Middlewich in Cheshire.
The proposed facility had been earmarked for a site off Pochin Way in Middlewich and will treat municipal and commercial and industrial waste from the county. The council had originally been refused planning consent in April 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The county currently has several EfW projects in the pipeline, with Covanta building an EfW incinerator at the Ince Park resource recovery park, as well as Viridors proposed 420,000 tonne capacity incinerator at Runcorn, and plans for Tata Chemicals and E.ON Energy to build an EfW facility at a chemical plant in Northwich currently being considered.
Planning
In a letter, setting out the reasons for upholding the councils decision, Jean Nowak, decision officer for the Department for Communities and Local Governments (DCLGs) Planning Central Casework Division, said that Covanta had not demonstrated that its plans to build the facility were in accordance with the countys waste planning policy, published in 2007.
The letter said: The Secretary of State has taken account of the wording and interpretation of capacity in CRLWP (Cheshire Replacement Local Waste Plan) and agrees with the Inspector that the appellant has not demonstrated compliance with that policy as there is likely to be an oversupply of such facilities compared to the amount of residual waste available for treatment within the county.
The firm now has six weeks to decide if it will appeal Mr Pickles decision, and Covanta managing director Malcolm Chilton revealed that it would review the ministers statement before deciding on its next steps.
He said: We are disappointed that the Secretary of State has decided to refuse planning permission for our proposed Energy from Waste (EfW) facility at the Midpoint 18 Business Park in Middlewich. We are reviewing the decision to inform our options as to how to proceed.
Opposition
The proposed facility has faced significant opposition from the local community, most notably from the Cheshire Anti Incinerator Network (CHAIN).
Responding to Mr Pickles announcement, Brian Cartwright, chairman of CHAIN, said: This announcement is a great victory for the people of Middlewich and I know will lift a dark cloud of dread that has been over the area for the past three years since Covanta came on the scene. It comes after CHAIN and the community fought a long campaign to oppose the proposal.
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We note with interest that Mr Pickles and the Planning Inspector placed a great deal of emphasis on the issues raised by us which included need for the facility, traffic impact including vehicle emissions, health, air quality, visual impact, natural habitat and the localism agenda. They were also responsive to CHAINs scepticism about various claims made by Covanta.
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