Viridor secures planning consent for Ardley EfW

Viridor has secured planning permission at the second attempt to build a 300,000 tonne-a-year capacity energy-from-waste incinerator at Ardley to deliver Oxfordshire county council's 25-year residual waste disposal contract.

The council's planning and regulation committee voted 10 to four yesterday (October 25) to approve the Taunton-based waste company's second application for the facility. The plans were subject to a public inquiry in July 2010 after an initial application was refused by the same committee a year ago (see letsrecycle.com story).

Having been named as preferred bidder for Oxfordshire county council's residual waste treatment contract ahead of Waste Recycling Group in September 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story), Viridor now said that it hoped to finalise the deal with the council “shortly”.

The company's project manager, Robert Ryan, said: “We are extremely pleased with the committee's decision as our proposals have been in line with national and local waste management and planning policies from the outset. “

He added: “We now look forward to signing the contract with the council so that we can continue moving forward with the delivery of a first-class residual treatment facility that Oxfordshire residents can be proud of.”

The Ardley facility is expected to treat between 130,000 and 160,000 tonnes of Oxfordshire's residual waste each year and generate around 24MW of electricity. The remaining capacity is expected to be filled by commercial and industrial waste from Oxfordshire.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Oxfordshire county council's cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, said: “There is a strong and clear need for a facility to provide an alternative to landfill to dispose of Oxfordshire's non-recyclable waste. This decision is a landmark moment in the process for establishing that facility and a key milestone in our wider efforts to tackle waste across the county.

“Once built, the energy recovery facility at Ardley would result in the diversion of at least 95% of Oxfordshire's municipal waste from landfill and provide electricity for at least 22,000 homes. Together with our continued good performance in reducing waste and increasing recycling and composting, this would achieve virtually zero municipal waste to landfill in Oxfordshire.”

The proposals have already received an environmental permit from the Environment Agency and Oxfordshire county council said it expected the facility to be operational in 2014.