The pair behind the project have submitted a joint Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter to the department for infrastructure, over its ruling in April to turn down the plant over fears about recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
Energy from waste specialist Indaver explained that this marks the first stage of a proposed judicial review of the decision.
The company had proposed the 300,000 tonnes per year facility in partnership with arc21, which represents six Northern Irish councils.
The pair have constantly said there is a need to build an EfW domestically to process waste otherwise going to landfill or exported.
However, the infrastructure minister said the development could result in an “increased market for waste disposal and to maintain a facility such as this, in addition to the other approved waste facilities, could discourage recycling”.
‘Legal challenge’
Speaking about this development, Jackie Keaney, commercial director for Indaver and Becon Consortium (the company set up by Indaver to manage the project said: “Together with arc21 we are taking this legal challenge as we believe the Minister erred in law by refusing this application and this has been borne out by advice from her own DfI officials which was contained in correspondence revealed following an Environmental Information Regulations request.
“The rationale she provided for her decision could not be considered a robust planning reason and this was a point made clear to the Minister by her officials. The Minister’s most senior advisors in the Department alerted her to the very real risks of legal challenge, highlighting that such a challenge might be exceptionally difficult for the Department to defend, as well as raising the associated costs and reputational risks of doing so. The Minister chose to ignore this advice issuing her decision on the final day before the pre-election ‘purdah’ period”.
Investment
Indaver says it has already invested £12 million into the project, and the plant if it goes ahead will deliver £250 million of investment to the local area.
It says the “council owned asset will deliver a local, resilient solution for arc21’s black bin waste and will directly contribute to NI’s energy resilience and security of supply through the generation of sufficient electricity to supply 30,000 homes”.
The company also noted the the ongoing energy crisis, saying that ”recovery of energy from our non-recyclable waste is more important than ever and reduces the need to import expensive fossil fuels”.
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