Recommendations have been made by officers for the granting of planning permission in an agenda paper drawn up for Gloucestershires planning committee which meets next week (March 21).
The facility is being proposed under a 500 million contract between the council and Urbaser Balfour Beatty, which was awarded in September 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The majority of waste treated at the facility, which will have an annual capacity of 190,000 tonnes, will come from households in Gloucestershire. A proportion of the waste would come from commercial and industrial sources and will be used to help generate 17.4 megawatts of electricity. The site will also include a bottom ash processing facility and visitor centre. If planning is approved, the council expects construction to last just under three years.
In the agenda paper the council said the application was highly significant which has attracted very considerable interest and a large number or representations. However, it added that the facility was needed to help Gloucestershire divert waste from landfill.
The council said: The proposed EfW facility would clearly provide capacity to divert from landfill all of Gloucestershires residual municipal solid waste and most if not all of its residual commercial and industrial waste. There is currently no alternative treatment capacity within Gloucestershire for residual municipal solid waste, and with the clear policy imperatives to reduce landfill and move the management of waste up the hierarchy, combined with the environmental and financial implications of continuing to landfill waste the need for such capacity is clear.
A draft environmental permit for the facility has been issued by the Environment Agency which has launched a consultation to help it make the final decision on whether to grant or refuse the permit. The plant will not be able to operate without the environmental permit and the Agency said it will not grant it if it consider the plant to cause significant pollution to the environment or harm human health.
Objections
The council still runs the risk of the decision being called in by communities secretary Eric Pickles. Plans to build the incinerator have attracted objections from over 1,000 people who have signed a petition asking for the government to call in the planning application.
A number of anti-incineration groups have been set up in opposition to the facility, including Gloucestershire Against Incineration. The plans also face opposition from Stroud district council and the Stroud District and Gloucestershire Green Party.
Among the objections, are the facilitys visual impact on the nationally important Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and concerns over it producing persistent organic pollutants as well as its impact on taxpayers. Those who have signed the petition are calling for cheaper, safer, less visually intrusive, environmentally friendly alternatives such as small MBT and AD plants.
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