Work has begun on SITA UKs energy-from-waste project in Cornwall, despite the possibility of the planning permission for the development being overturned in the High Court next month.
Pre-engineering and construction works for haul and access roads began on Monday (September 26) for the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC), which is being developed in St Dennis by SITA UK to treat Cornwalls residual household waste under a PFI contract signed in 2006.
Plans for the 240,000 tonne-a-year capacity facility were rejected by the now-defunct Cornwall county council in March 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story) but then approved on appeal by communities secretary Eric Pickles in May 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, that decision is now subject to a legal challenge by local campaign group the Cornwall Waste Forum St Dennis Branch (formerly the St Dennis Incinerator Group). It issued an application in June 2011 calling for the approval to be quashed under Section 288 of the Town and Country Act 1990.
The group is claiming the Secretary of State failed to consider the projects impact on local conservation areas in the way it had expected. Its appeal is scheduled to be heard at the High Court in London on October 11 and 12.
Risk
Despite this, councillors decided to push ahead with the works after concluding that the cost of delaying the work until the appeal is concluded outweighs the risk of starting the works now and then finding the planning permission is quashed.
In a council document, the risk associated with starting the works prior to the appeal being heard and a new schedule for the project being agreed by the council and SITA is put at 3-4 million, while the cost of delaying until both these happen is estimated to be between 7-8 million. This is because, the council says, every month of delay costs it an extra 1 million in landfill tax and haulage costs.
The document also notes that the council has received legal advice that the Secretary of State has a good chance of defeating the legal challenge.
Council contractor
The works which were begun this week and will continue during October relate to areas outside the actual CERC site, and such are being carried out by the councils highways contractor, CORMAC.
They include: Continuation of noise monitoring; Set up of the site compound and installation of services to the compound; Tree protection measures; Site clearance and ground preparation; Vegetation and hedge clearance; Fencing; Initial setting out of site; Noise protection measures; Set up of public Rights of Way traffic management.
Commenting on work starting, Cornwall councils cabinet member for waste Julian German told letsrecycle.com: In terms of waste management in Cornwall we are very pleased to be moving away from landfill and also reuse and recycle as much as possible. We have our bulky waste collection contract out to tender at the moment which is focused on reuse.
We are trying to address the waste hierarchy in the proper fashion and the incinerator will play a role in that.
EPC contractor
A start date for work on the actual construction of the CERC is yet to be finalised. However, the delays to the project caused by its planning difficulties have led to previous engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Takuma withdrawing from the project.
Instead, French-owned construction company Vinci Environment UK is now SITA UKs preferred bidder to undertake the construction work, which, as it stands, would be completed in time for the plant to be up-and-running in December 2014.
Cornwall council previously considered abandoning its contract with SITA UK in the wake of the original planning refusal, but decided to press ahead with the project in February 2010 after the cost of scrapping the deal and pursuing an alternative was put at 200 million (see letsrecycle.com story). The council now estimates this cost could actually be as high as 322 million due to additional landfill costs.
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