The Department of Trade and Industry said it has received the recommendation of the planning inspector following the second public inquiry into the proposal, which took place in September (see letsrecycle.com story).
Cory – through subsidiary Riverside Resource Recovery – wants the plant to be constructed on the bank of the River Thames at Belvedere to take the pressure off its disposal contract with four central London boroughs.
The proposal would mean a plant at Norman Road processing on average about 585,000 tonnes of waste over a 30-year period, producing electricity the equivalent to power 66,000 homes.
Although there has been strong local opposition to the project – led by local councillors at the London borough of Bexley – Cory believes the plant is vital to deal with London's residual waste once the Mucking landfill closes in 2007.
Announcement
The difficult decision over whether to allow the plant to be built could be taken in late January or early February, experts believe, but the DTI will say only that an announcement will be made “in the near future”.
The lack of a decision by the then-Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt this time last year led to the re-opening of the public inquiry in September. Mrs Hewitt said she wanted more information on the project in the light of changes in government planning guidance.
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It is thought the planning inspector had recommended the Belvedere incinerator be given the green light after the first public inquiry.
Last month the planning inspectorate returned its report into the second Belvedere inquiry to the DTI. A spokeswoman for the DTI told letsrecycle.com late last week: “We are now considering the report and a decision is expected to be announced in the near future.”
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