The London borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has now given planning permission for the waste management facility, which is to be built at Old Oak Sidings, Willesden. The facility will mainly process construction and demolition waste, but will make the most of canal and rail access to reduce the amount of road haulage required.
” The application is supported as an important part of London's waste management capacity. “
– Ken Livingstone
Commenting on the application, Mr Livingstone said: “This proposal has the potential to make a contribution to London's regional self-sufficiency and will add to much-needed recycling capacity for residual waste.
“Overall the application is supported as an important part of London's waste management capacity and is welcomed from a strategic planning point of view,” he said.
Powerday Plc, the company behind the project, intends to eventually process as much as 1.6 million tonnes of waste each year at the site. About 70% of the volume of waste coming into the site will be construction and demolition waste, and it is hoped that 90% of this waste will be recycled.
The rest of the waste entering the site would be equally split between municipal solid waste, commercial/industrial waste and pre-recycled material. The site would recycle about 33% of the municipal waste received and 66% of the commercial/industrial waste received.
Contracts
Powerday currently handles 120,000 tonnes of waste at the Old Oak Sidings site each year, but would source additional volumes of waste through contracts gained elsewhere in North and West London.
The site is considered to have “exceptional” rail and water connections and could see around 1 million tonnes of material a year taken off the roads. Powerday also has the backing of English Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd and British Waterways.
The development of the site will include the construction of three new buildings, covered storage bays, a railway platform and a canal barge loading bay over a two-phase schedule. Phase one will include the building of a waste processing plant and storage bays, while phase 2 will see a further building for waste processing, a two-storey office building as well as the rail and water entry points constructed.
But phase two could depend on the company gaining contracts to take waste. In its planning application, Powerday stated: “Until evidence shows that sufficient business will be generated for rail and water of materials both into and out of the site then it will not be viable to construct the phase two building, railway platform or canal wharf.”
The phase two element would also require a government grant, which would only be provided if alternative transportation facilities to road were to be provided.
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