Planning permission for the 300,000 tonne-a-year facility was rejected twice by Leicestershire county council but a successful appeal by the waste management firm has seen the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) rule in favour in a decision announced on June 28 2012.
“This is a really important decision for Biffa and for Leicestershire, as the area currently has no long term landfill diversion solution for waste.”
Jeff Rhodes, Biffa
Commenting on the DCLGs decision, which was issued by Secretary ofState EricPickles,Jeff Rhodes, planning and permitting manager at Biffa, said: This is a really important decision for Biffa and for Leicestershire, as the area currently has no long term landfill diversion solution for waste. We believe that it makes no environmental or financial sense to put waste which we cannot recycle into landfill when the value inherent within it can be used to generate renewable energy.
It is gratifying to see that the Secretary of State agreed and considered the reasons for approving it to be substantial and compelling.
Mr Rhodes added that facilities such as the proposed EfW at Newhurst Quarry contribute significantly to reducing climate change and producing renewable energy.
Decision
A letter to the council, on behalf of Mr Pickles, outlined the reasons for the DCLGs decision based on an inspectors report. The letter reads: The Secretary of State agrees with him [the inspector] that there is a clear need to provide in excess of 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of recovery capacity to ensure that waste is treated higher up the hierarchy than landfilling.
For the reasons given by the Inspector, the Secretary of State also agrees with his conclusion that the proposal would assist in achieving a greater level of self-sufficiency in terms of waste management, and that the ability if the proposal to make a significant contribution on this front, in accepted accord with national waste policy, carries considerable weight.
The letter also explains that the proposed facility would make a significant contribution to delivering the governments climate change and energy policies.
Rejected
The original plans for the Shepshed plant were submitted by Biffa in July 2009 as part of the companys bid for the Leicestershire county council PFI contract (see letsrecycle.com story).
The firm was cut from the list of bidders in June 2010 which saw it change its plans for the facility to treat commercial and industrial waste, instead of municipal.
The plans were first rejected by Leicestershire county council in October 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story ) due to concerns about the potential impact the plant could have on a designated Area of Particularly Attractive Countryside, the impact on Charnwood Forest and on the grade II listed Garendon Park. However, Mr Pickles saidthe benefits of the scheme outweigh any impact it would have on the appearance and character of the area.
Leicestershire Waste Partnership
Leicestershire appears not to have a specific treatment strategy for residual waste. In January this year a final draft of a revised strategy review document, produced by Andrew Harper of the Leicestershire Waste Partnership, reported that a 54% recycling and composting rate had been reached.
Under ‘Our Strategic Vision’ it said: Any residual waste that has not been reused, recycled or composted should be treated before disposal so that further value can be recovered and so that the impact of final disposal is minimised.
The document noted that some 315,000 tonnes of household waste is generated in Leicrstershire each year with an additional 31,000 tonnes managed by partner authorities. The county council, it said, is responsible for the treatment and disposal of more than 170,000 tonnes of residual waste and is moving away from landfill and had procured capacity at an MBT facility to treat 50,000 tonnes of residual waste per annum.
And, the review document records that Leicestershire was one of the counties to lose PFI credits when the government reviewed the funding programme in 2010.
It argues that lower waste arisings and higher recycling mean there is no necessity to implement new residual waste procurement process(es) at the current time although it suggests that it will look to move more waste away from landfill but does not appear to give details of how this would be achieved.
Opposition
Meanwhile MP for Loughborouh Nicky Morgan has said Mr Pickles decision was a great disappointment and ignored the idea of localism.
Ms Morgan said: After years of local campaigning against Biffa’s proposal to build an incinerator at Newhurst Quarry, it comes as a great disappointment that their appeal has been approved by the Secretary of State. I fought long and hard alongside all of the passionate local people against the BIFFA plans, which were refused twice by Leicestershire County Council planners.
“This makes it all the more upsetting that the Secretary of State’s decision has ignored local opinion, and I will therefore be looking very closely at the decision document and wish to make it clear that if Localism is to mean anything to people, then Whitehall must have faith in local authorities’ ability to arrive at their own decisions.
A spokesman for Leicestershire county council, said: “We are disappointed that local decision making has been overturned and will now look carefully at the reasons why the Secretary of State agreed to approve these proposals, before we can make any further comment.”
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