The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) issued a section 25 order last month, which signals its intention to examine West Sussex county council’s decision to award planning consent for the plant – a move which could stall the development of the facility by months.
As part of the review, DCLG ministers will decide whether the application meets national planning policy, and may opt to ‘call-in’ the decision for further scrutiny.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com today (October 14), a spokeswoman for the Department said: “The order puts the brakes on the local authority issuing the decision to go ahead or not and gives the Department time to consider whether to call it in.”
But, the spokeswoman added that no timetable has yet been set for a decision to be reached.
Planning consent for the commercial and industrial waste-fed plant at a site on the former Ford Airfield, a brownfield development area, was approved by the council’s planning committee in July, subject to a final legal agreement between the authority and the waste firm (see letsrecycle.com story).
Commenting on DCLG’s decision, a council spokesperson said: “Subsequent to the planning application being approved by planning committee but prior to issue of a decision, the county council received a direction from the Secretary of State not to grant permission until specific authorisation has been given. To be clear, the planning decision has not been called-in; the purpose of the direction is to allow the Secretary of State to consider whether he wishes to ‘call-in’ the application, that is to have it referred to him for determination.”
Grundon
However, Grundon has said it is not “unduly concerned” by the decision to scrutinise the planning application, and is set to continue with its work on the legal agreement needed to develop the plant.
In a statement today, the firm’s estates director, Andrew Short, said: “We have been informed that DCLG is currently reviewing the application to ensure it is compliant with government policy but this does not constitute what is regularly referred to as a ‘call in’ by the Secretary of State. The procedure occurs on quite a regular basis and is neither unusual nor unexpected. We are not unduly concerned by this as the proposal is compliant with local, regional and national policy.”
Mr Short added that Grundon and WSCC will continue to work on the legal agreement that will cement the council’s planning decision whilst the review by DCLG is ongoing.
Development
Should it reach completion the development is expected to create around 200 construction jobs and 60 permanent roles and will also house a 60,000 tonnes-per-year capacity materials recycling facility (MRF) for commercial and industrial material, such as paper, cardboard, glass and metals.
Plans for the facility have faced opposition from the local community over concerns about traffic, noise and emissions from the site, but a council consultation with the public in December 2013 found that 62% of respondents were in favour of the development.
Conservative MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Nick Gibb, whose constituency covers the Ford site has also expressed concerns over the proposals, writing to the council before the plans were approved.
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