Pickles calls in Worcestershire EfW proposal

Communities secretary Eric Pickles will make the final decision on whether proposals to build a large-scale energy-from-waste incinerator at Hartlebury in Worcestershire to treat residual household waste for two Midlands councils receives planning permission.

Mr Pickles decided this week (May 10) to call in the application for the 200,000 tonne-a-year capacity facility, which would be known as EnviRecover.

This means the 120 million project, proposed by Spanish-owned Mercia Waste Management, will now be subject to a public inquiry, after which the Planning Inspector will issue his recommendations to the Secretary of State.

The plant would form the centrepiece of a 25-year waste PFI deal awarded to Mercia in 1998 by Herefordshire and Worcestershire county councils in 1998.

Both Mercia, and its sister company Severn Waste Management which is also involved in the project, are jointly owned by Focsa and Urbaser, who are in turn owned by Spanish waste giants FCC – who also own Waste Recycling Group – and ACS respectively.

Worcestershire county council agreed in principle to a planning proposal for the plant at the beginning of March. However, the issue was set to be referred to Mr Pickles because it involved a Green Belt development (see letsrecycle.com story).

Call-In

And, Worcestershire county council revealed yesterday (May 11) that the Department of Communities & Local Government had written to them explaining that Mr Pickles had opted to call-in the decision to ensure that the proposed development was in accordance with:

• Local development plans
• National waste policies
• National climate change advice
• National Green Belt policy.

Diane Tilley, director of planning, economy and performance at Worcestershire county council, added: “We explored the application in extensive detail, consulted effectively with all interested parties and the Secretary of State was given the option of reviewing the decision as a matter of course.

We await further details of the Secretary of State’s timetable for the Public Local Inquiry and will consider how to proceed in the best interests of Worcestershire’s communities when we have more information.”

Development of the plant is expected to cost around 120 million and, when built, it will generate 15.5 MW of electricity when it becomes fully operational, which Mercia hopes will happen in quarter two of 2014.

Mercia

Commenting on the announcement, Mercias co-director John Plant said, We understand that the Secretary of State believes that our planning application raises issues of more than local importance that need further consideration before any final decision can be made to allow EnviRecover to be developed at Hartlebury Trading Estate.

Mr Plant added that it was important to recognise that Worcestershire county councils planning committee and its technical statutory consultees had supported the proposals.

“And, further to this, he said locally conducted opinion survey showed that over 90% of local residents supported thermal treatment of residual waste.

He said: We will provide whatever evidence the Secretary of State needs in order to ensure he has sufficient information to make a decision. We hope that Mr Pickles will ultimately support the locally-elected councillors in their decision to effectively approve the planning application.”