Indaver’s proposal will be discussed this week (25 February) by Essex county council when it meets to consider the ‘integrated waste management facility’ (IWMF) at the Rivenhall Airfield site.
Herefordshire-based aggregates company Gent Fairhead first received planning permission for the IWMF at Witham, near Colchester, from John Denham, then secretary of state for communities for local government, in 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Indaver became involved with the project in 2018 and has since taken on a long-term lease for the site.
The proposed IWMF comprises a 595,000 tonnes per year capacity energy from waste (EfW) plant, a de-inking and paper pulping facility to recycle paper, an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, a material recycling facility (MRF), and a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility.
Compliance
Work on the site began in January 2020 and construction of the EfW plant started in July 2021 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Indaver do not believe that there is an obligation on us to build the paper plant
- Indaver spokesperson
However, Indaver said during a committee meeting in June 2021 that the paper recycling facility was not commercially viable and would no longer go ahead.
Councillors in opposition to the plans suggest Indaver could need to submit a new planning application if it does not wish to build the IWMF as per the original permission.
A spokesperson for Indaver told letsrecycle.com: “An integral part of how Indaver conducts its business is compliance with all statutory obligations and requirements.
“Following an extensive due diligence process and ongoing expert legal and planning advice, Indaver do not believe that there is an obligation on us to build the paper plant and we will be advising the council on this as part of the ongoing discharge of conditions process.”
Condition 66
The meeting on 25 February concerns Indaver’s proposals relating to so-called ‘condition 66’ of the original planning permission and the company’s alternative plan of action.
Condition 66 states that Indaver must submit a plan of action for an alternative use or a scheme of rehabilitation for the site if the IMWF is not brought into “beneficial use” within five years of March 2016.
As the timeframe has now elapsed, Indaver has proposed a plan comprising three options:
- To build the IWMF as per the original planning permission. Indaver says this is its first option unless it cannot comply for “technical or commercial reasons”.
- To build only the elements within the consent which are “technically and commercially viable”, which could include just the EfW plant.
- To apply for consent for “alternative waste management or energy generation uses”. Indaver says that it is “exploring the possibility” of increasing the power output of the EfW plant to above the 50 MWe threshold under this option, which would require consent from the secretary of state.
A report written by Richard Greaves, Essex’s chief planning officer for county planning and major development, recommends that the council should approve only option 1.
Essex county council says that when condition 66 was drafted it was not anticipated that within five years the IWMF would not be in beneficial use but was “positively progressing”.
Essex says Indaver has indicated that it is likely to take until 2025/26 to construct the IWMF, which is longer than originally proposed.
Objections
Several local councils registered their objections to Indaver’s plan of action in documents which will go before the council meeting.
Braintree district council and the parish councils of Bradwell with Pattiswick, Kelvedon, Coggeshall, Feering, and Rivenhall all object.
In a statement, Braintree councillor Paul Thorogood said: “It is quite clear Indaver is only committed to building the incinerator – the dirty, climate-harming element – and not the greener elements of the IWMF as permitted.
“This is a significant change and one that needs to go back to the committee if not the secretary of state as a new application.”
The Environment Agency says it has no objections to the plan of action, though it suggests Indaver may need to submit a new environmental permit application if some elements of the IWMF were dropped.
Priti Patel, home secretary and MP for Witham, wrote to the chief executive of Essex county council, Gavin Jones, in November about the “continuing concern, disappointment and frustration locally” at the plan.
Representing an estimated population of more than 1.8 million, Essex county council had a household waste recycling rate of 49.8% in the 2020/21 financial year.
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