Communities secretary Eric Pickles has offered tentative support for waste management firm Viridor's attempt to overturn the refusal of planning permission for its Ardley energy-from-waste incinerator.
The letter accompanies the Inspector's report on the proposal, which was completed after Viridor appealed Oxfordshire county council's October 2009 decision to refuse planning permission for the plant – decision which prompted a public inquiry in July 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Planning Inspectorate recommended the company's appeal to be allowed to stand and planning permission for the development to be granted, dependent on a number of conditions.
Following the original refusal, Viridor also submitted a second, revised application for the plant, which was approved by Oxfordshire county council in October 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
A spokesman for Viridor told letsrecycle.com that this second application related to a “temporary” energy-from-waste arrangement.
He also explained that Mr Pickles' eventual decision over the planning permission will relate to the original application for the plant, and noted that his letter also included formal confirmation that he does not intend to call-in the permission granted to Viridor over its second application.
Decision
Mr Pickles' final decision on original proposal is still dependent on further information being issued to him by the involved parties by January 14 2011, with the communities secretary set to make a definitive ruling on the planning application by February 17 2011.
A spokesman for the department for communities and local government said that, while Mr Pickles is a fierce proponent of the ‘localism' agenda, his decision to call for more information from the affected local authorities was not an “extraordinary” measure but one of several options available to him.
The spokesman told letsrecycle.com: “In general, the localism agenda is key to this kind of decision but, because it is about a nationally significant infrastructure project, the secretary of state is keen to review the opportunity for it to be investigated outside of just the local authority view point.”
“Unusual”
Commenting on the communities secretary's announcement, Ian John, Viridor's planning manager, said: “Our proposals have been designed to provide a much needed alternative to landfill for Oxfordshire from the outset. In the documentation issued, both the Inspector's report and the secretary of state fully acknowledge the urgent requirement for a facility to treat the county's residual waste both from households and businesses as well.”
Mr John acknowledged that the firm was now in the “unusual position” of potentially having two planning permissions to develop an energy-from-waste facility on the same site. But, he said; “We will not be able to comment any further on our intentions until the outcome of the secretary of state's decision in February is known.”
Viridor is hopeful of beginning construction on the Ardley project in April 2011 and, given a three year construction and commissioning period, has timetabled spring/summer 2014 as its projected operational start date.
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