The plant is being delivered by a joint venture consisting of INEOS ChlorVinyls, Viridor and John Laing and almost half of its 850,000 tonne-per-annum capacity will be filled with waste delivered under Viridors contract with the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. The remainder was due to be filled with RDF from other parts of the UK. Halton borough council originally ruled that the bulk of this should be delivered by rail or water and a planning condition was imposed to fulfil this requirement.
INEOS ChlorVinyls wants the planning restriction condition 57 dropped so that instead of delivering just 85,000 tonnes of the non-contracted RDF by road, it can deliver five times as much, a total of 480,000 tonnes by road.
This is the second time the chemicals and vinyl firm have sought for condition 57 to be lifted it first applied last year but dropped the idea earlier in 2012. However it has now returned to the local authority and is asking again for the restriction to be lifted.
The company said that planning and transport officers had said this would not cause air pollution and would fit on local roads. But, a local group opposed to the incinerator believe otherwise, as the number of HGVs on the road could increase from 34 to nearly 200.
The Halton Action Group Against the Incinerator (HAGATI) said: Even if the local road system was theoretically capable of handling this large increase in HGV traffic, it does not justify discarding the agreed planning condition which was intended to minimize road traffic movements, and to ensure that more sustainable forms of transport such as rail and water are used.
In addition, the group said that if INEOS cannot find sufficient suppliers for RDF, it should consider down-sizing the facility.
Delivery
INEOS ChlorVinyls blamed UK local authorities lack of investment in multi-modal transport for its reliance of delivery by road.
The company said: Unfortunately, most of the current sources of fuel in the UK are not located near to existing rail or water links. This would therefore require local authorities to make major investments in new multi-modal transport and handling facilities, which would most likely be funded through tax payers’ money. Of those fuel contracts available in the UK, very few are currently planning to invest in new transport links, meaning road transport is the preferred option.
Last year, INEOS ChlorVinyls project director Ian Barlow, said that the transport carbon assessment for the extra road movements had concluded that principally due to the need for transhipment, that proposed road transport of a further 395,000 tonnes per annum of fuel would achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions of approx 2,000 tCO2epa.
Flexibility
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, a spokeswoman for Viridor highlighted the fact that at least 40% of the RDF will be transported by rail, but said it needed flexibility to deliver the remaining material.
She said: The intention of the planning application is to increase flexibility to allow us to bid for the RDF contracts that the facility needs to operate at optimum efficiency. Should the planning application not be successful, Viridor and INEOS would consider how to best achieve these efficiencies.
She added that the potential for air pollution from the additional traffic movements is being assessed to ensure that there are no unacceptable impacts for humans or ecology.
A series of public exhibitions will be held in August and September to give Halton residents the opportunity to find out more and engage with the companies about the proposals and the need for greater transport flexibility.
Council
A statement issued by the council today (August 28) said: “The INEOS incinerator is a private commercial enterprise, providing a heat to power facility, supported by a number of customers ( from within and outside Halton ). It has secure planning permission from the SoS and the EA regulate the plant and its operations. Halton has regulatory responsibilities for the day to day planning and highway matters and undertake these responsibilities as required by law.
“Such facilities are often controversial but at all times Halton seeks to develop a positive working relationship with INEOS and listens carefully to those who support and oppose the facility.”
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