Halton to pay cost of Runcorn EfW appeal

Halton borough council has said it will seek to minimise appeal costs after it failed to substantiate a restriction on deliveries of RDF to Viridors Runcorn energy-from-waste (EfW) plant.

The Planning Inspectorate ruled that the local authority should pay costs believed to be in the region of 1.5 million for an appeal launched by Viridors consortium partner INEOS ChlorVinyls, after it opted to place a limit of 85,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel to the facility each year to reduce traffic movements.

The original planning application for the plant designated the need for up to 480,000 tonnes to be transported by road, a factor which inspector Jennifer Vyse considered in her decision to lift the planning condition earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story).

In a separate costs decision, Ms Vyse ruled the council had behaved unreasonably in its failure to produce sufficient evidence at the public inquiry in January, and confirmed that Haltons Development Control Committee had resolved to simply submit a single reason for refusal and not take part in proceedings.

She said: Refusal of the application led to the appeal. This would not have been necessary had the application been approved by the Council in the first place, as recommended by the planning officer.

Reasons

Whatever the reason for the councils position at the Inquiry, the absence of any evidence to substantiate the single reason for refusal means that its behaviour was unreasonable in the terms of 03/2009 and, given the outcome of the appeal, involved the appellant in unnecessary and wasted expense.

However, the council argued it could have done no more to resist the application and claimed the appeal decision did not reflect the needs of local people.

A spokesman for Halton borough council said: There is a legal process still to follow to establish what the costs will be. The Council will seek to minimise the costs award. Residents were given the opportunity to put the case against at the Inquiry. Their case was not accepted. The Development Control Committee’s case was put to the Inspector, in writing, through the planning report. This case was also not accepted.

Having due regard to the current planning law, the Development Control Committee could have done no more to resist the application.

Disappointment

But Halton Action Group Against the Incinerator, the long-term campaigners against the Viridor plant who defended the councils decision at the inquiry, believe the council could have done more to support its claim.

Jeff Meehan, chairman of Halton Action Group Against the Incinerator, told letsrecycle.com: We are very disappointed by the decision but we can understand it, because we do not have access to the funds or expert witnesses the consortium has, and our council has not provided an opposing view.

Its not the fact Viridor will be incinerating waste, or the number of lorries on the roads, its the fact they said they were going to use sustainable transport and they clearly havent done that.

Viridor began burning pre-treated waste at the 850,000 tonne capacity Runcorn plant earlier this month, with all current RDF transported by rail from Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. It will begin transporting RDF via road during the second phase of operations, which is set to begin in early 2015.

Summing up the appeal case, Ms Vyse said she recognised the outcome would be disappoint local residents but concluded localism must be balanced against considerations such as the importance government attaches to sustainable waste management.