The company first consulted on the plans in 2019, which included proposals to add a fourth processing line to the facility to increase the capacity to around 800,000 tonnes.
As the project was deemed to be “nationally significant”, a formal decision on the plan had to be made by the Planning Inspectorate.
While FCC didn’t disclose why the plans were dropped in its letter to the inspectorate or its statement, it had faced local opposition because many felt the existing plant had the capacity to deal with Kent’s waste.
Formal confirmation
In a letter to the Inspectorate, the company said: “Please accept this letter as formal confirmation that the applicant is withdrawing its proposal for an extension to the Allington Integrated Waste Management Facility in Kent.”
It continued: “No formal application has been made, so this is notice that the proposal is not being pursued to application stage.”
A spokesperson for FCC Environment told letsrecycle.com that the business remains “committed to the facility as it exists in doing its vital job of converting waste that would otherwise be landfilled into energy to power homes and businesses in the area.”
Enviropower
The existing EfW plant is run by FCC Environment’s subsidiary Kent Enviropower and handles up to 500,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste per year. The facility currently has a generating capacity of up to 42.5MW.
The additional line was to be housed in a separate building and share some of the existing station’s infrastructure. The three existing lines at the facility use circulating fluidised bed to burn the waste, which then generates usable energy.
Kent
EfW capacity in Kent has been under the spotlight since Wheelabrator (now enfinium) had its application to build a 390,000-tonne plant turned down by the secretary of state last year (see letsrecycle.com story).
This was because the BEIS secretary state at the time, Kwasi Kwarteng, agreed that the facility could impact recycling locally due to sufficient capacity already being in place.
The plant was due to be next to its existing Kemsley facility.
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