Oxfordshire refuses Viridor Ardley EfW application

Yesterday's (October 19) decision saw the council's planning and regulation committee refuse the application by seven votes to five – despite the council's head of sustainable development recommending that, subject to a number of conditions, the application be approved.

And, at the same meeting, Waste Recycling Group's (WRG) application to build a 220,000 tonne-a-year capacity incinerator at Sutton Courtenay was also rejected – by seven votes to six, despite planning officers yet again recommending that the application be approved, subject to conditions.

Viridor beat WRG to secure preferred bidder status for its residual waste treatment contract last month (see letsrecycle.com story), and, with its status as reserve bidder for the contract, a spokesman for WRG confirmed it was “unlikely to appeal” against yesterday's decision.

Viridor has not yet confirmed whether it will appeal against the decision, but the company's project manager, Robert Ryan, expressed his disappointment at the vote and said that the company would be reviewing its position.

“While this decision will inevitably delay our journey towards providing Oxfordshire with a sustainable and cost-effective waste management solution, we will be reviewing our position in due course,” he said.

With its initial choice of waste treatment option now in doubt, a spokesman for Oxfordshire county council told letsrecycle.com that “we'll now consider our options”.

Oxfordshire had hoped to finalise its contract with Viridor in February 2010, with the aim of having the Ardley facility, which would be built on the site of an existing Viridor landfill and recycling site, up-and-running in 2013.

Report

The head of sustainable development's report submitted to yesterday's council committee reveals that councillors were recommended to approve the Viridor application subject to a number of conditions – including a limitation on the waste brought into the site from outside Oxfordshire.

It states that Viridor would be required to commit to “all residual MSW and a minimum of 50,000 tonnes of C&I waste a year to come from Oxfordshire to the EfW plant and two thirds of waste to come to the landfill from Oxfordshire”.

Meanwhile, WRG's application had been revised to mean that only waste from within Oxfordshire was treated there, and compliance with this was a condition of the head of sustainable development's recommendation to approve the application.