AmeyCespa submits plans for Yorkshire PFI facility
2 September 2011
AmeyCespa has submitted a planning application for the large scale waste management facility that forms the centrepiece of its multi-million pound PFI-funded waste contract with two Yorkshire councils.
The facility, known as the ‘Allerton Waste Recovery Park’ is proposed for the site of a former quarry and landfill near Harrogate. It would use mechanical sorting, anaerobic digestion and energy from waste technology to treat residual waste delivered under a 25-year contract with North Yorkshire county and City of York councils.
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- An artist’s impression of the Allerton Waste Recovery Park which AmeyCespa plans to build to treat North Yorkshire county and City of York councils’ residual waste
The contract received £65 million of PFI funding support from Defra, was awarded jointly by the two councils to Spanish-owned AmeyCespa in December 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story). The deal, which is worth a reported £900 million, represents AmeyCespa’s first major waste contract win in the UK.
In total, the Allerton Waste Recovery Park is expected to treat up to 320,000 tonnes-a-year of residual waste. Waste will pass through mechanical sorting, which is expected to recover up to 20,000 tonnes-a-year of recyclables, with another 40,000 tonnes-a-year of garden and food waste being treated using anaerobic digestion.
The remainder will be sent for energy-from-waste incineration, producing around 24 megawatts of electricity – enough to provide power for 40,000 homes, while the residue from the process is expected to produce around 50,000 tonnes-a-year of construction aggregates.
Project director Bill Jarvis said: “The new facility will make the most of people’s everyday rubbish, ensuring as much is recycled as possible as well as generating renewable energy and creating electricity from waste which would otherwise have gone to landfill. This in turn creates a saving for the councils at a time when budget control is a key issue.”
The councils expect to save around £320 million on their combined waste management bills over the lifetime of the contract as a result of signing the deal with AmeyCespa, while they also believe it will help them to reach their target of recycling 50% of waste by 2020.
Mr Jarvis added: “This is the most up-to-date, cost effective and end-to-end solution to deal with North Yorkshire’s waste. An extensive procurement process involving numerous experts has been undertaken to find the best option for dealing with North Yorkshire’s waste.”
Decision process
The planning application is now expected to be validated by North Yorkshire county council planning officers in the next few weeks, and it is anticipated it will take between nine and 12 months for the application to be fully considered. AmeyCespa will also submit an environmental permit application to the Environment Agency later this year.
If the planning application is approved, the company then plans to begin construction next year with the aim of having it operational by 2015.
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