But, the project will now be passed by the county council to Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government, for a further decision.
At a meeting which finished in the late afternoon (October 30), the countys planning and regulatory functions committee considered the report of the corporate director for business and environmental services on AmeyCespas planning application for Allerton Waste Recovery Park.
Describing the session as a long meeting, the authority said that the committee heard representations from members of the public, local opposition groups and AmeyCespa, and they agreed with the reports recommendation and voted to approve the application.
The committee alsoagreed with the reports recommendation that the secretary of state for communities and local government should be consulted on the application and the committees decision. It will now be up to Mr Pickles to decide the next stage for the application.
Finalise
North Yorkshire County Councillor Chris Metcalfe, executive member for waste disposal, said: Todays decision means that the county council can begin to finalise the long term waste management contract with AmeyCespa whilst the Secretary of State is reviewing the application.
It marks the start of us being able to move away from landfilling our waste to a sustainable long term solution which generates green electricity. The contract with AmeyCespa will give us over 240million in savings on the costs of doing nothing different with our waste welcome news indeed in this time of severely reduced council budgets.
AmeyCespa won the 25-year contract from North Yorkshire county council with City of York council In December 2010.
Technologies
The technologies include mechanical sorting and reclamation of around 20,000 tonnes per year of recyclable materials left in the waste which arrives at the facility; Anaerobic Digestion (AD) to treat food waste and produce electricity; and Energy from Waste (incineration). The proposed location for this facility is Allerton Quarry and landfill next to the A1M near Harrogate.
Bill Jarvis, project director for AmeyCespa said: We are pleased the planning committee is minded to approve our proposals for Allerton Waste Recovery Park. The new facility is a common sense solution for dealing with North Yorkshire and Yorks waste and will save local taxpayers millions of pounds. In addition, it will increase recycling, generate renewable electricity, create jobs and provide an economic boost for local suppliers.
Information
We will now ensure any remaining steps are completed, such as providing information to central government if it decides to review the applications approval and finalising our contract with North Yorkshire County Council.
We aim to begin construction of the new facility in 2013, with it starting to process waste in 2015. During this time, we remain committed to working with the local community, involving them in our proposals and answering any questions they may have.
The contract received 65 million of PFI funding support from Defra, and was awarded jointly by the two councils to Spanish-owned AmeyCespa in December 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story). The deal, which is worth a reported 900 million, represents AmeyCespas first major waste contract win in the UK.
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