Mr Pickles had been due to decide by September 17 whether or not to overturn Gloucestershire county council’s decision last year to refuse planning permission for the facility at Javelin Park (see letsrecycle.com story). This followed an appeal by the consortium proposing the facility, Urbaser Balfour Beatty.
However, after receiving new information “material to the Secretary of State’s decision” from local anti-incinerator group GlosVAIN, the Department for Communities and Local Government has confirmed that this timetable has now been pushed back to November 30th.
A letter sent on Mr Pickle’s behalf to GlosVAIN on September 16 explains that the new information was the granting of a planning permission to Cory Environmental for an anaerobic digestion plant near Bishops Cleeve, which GlosVAIN claims “demonstrates the lack of need for the incinerator”.
The letter states: “The Secretary of State considers that he will not be in a position to reach a decision on the above appeal by 17 September… because of the need to allow parties time to deal with the matter above.”
GlosVAIN welcomed the revised timetable, commenting: “The announcement of this delay is good news as it shows the Secretary of State deemed the information provided to him material enough to warrant the delay and to invite further comment.”
‘Disappointed’
However, Gloucestershire county council said that it regretted the delay and stressed that it believed the facility would be beneficial for Gloucestershire and the environment.
The plant is part of a £500 million contract between Gloucestershire county council and a consortium involving Spanish-owned waste management firm Urbaser and civil engineering firm Balfour Beatty awarded in September 2012.
A Gloucestershire county council spokesperson said: “While disappointed with this short delay Gloucestershire county council will continue to wait for the Secretary of State to weigh up the arguments around the building of an Energy from Waste Plant at Javelin Park by 30th November 2014.
“If approved, the facility will mark an important change in the way that Gloucestershire deals with the household waste of its 600,000 residents, diverting over 92% of our waste from landfill. It will make a significant impact on tackling climate change by removing 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and save local people more than £150 million over the next 25 years.”
Anaeobic digestion
The council added that it already planned to send some waste – in the form of food waste – to anaerobic digestion once the EfW facility was up and running: “As planned, we will also be stopping even more waste ending up in the ground by using an anaerobic digestion facility to treat food waste, thanks to close working with district councils.”
The public inquiry for the planning appeal by Urbaser Balfour Beatty against the refusal of planning consent for an Energy from Waste facility at Javelin Park started on 19 November 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Secretary of State appointed Brian Cook, an Inspector from the Planning Inspectorate, to hear the appeal at the Inquiry.
UBB
Commenting on the delay, Javier Peiro, project director for Urbaser Balfour Beatty, said: “Delays to decisions on major projects are not unusual and we will be responding in detail to the Secretary of State. Nothing has changed: Gloucestershire needs this facility to divert 150,000 tonnes of waste from landfill, the site is within the adopted Waste Core Strategy and Gloucestershire County Council’s officers recommended the scheme be approved.”
“While Gloucestershire continues to send its residual waste to landfill there is an unavoidable environmental and economic cost.
“The facility would divert waste from landfill whilst generating enough electricity to power around 26,000 homes, with over half of this being renewable.”
The consortium added that the Javelin Park project would divert over 92% of Gloucestershire’s residual waste from landfill and generate enough electricity to power 26,000 homes. It also said it would create 300 jobs during construction and around 40 when the facility is up and running.
A DCLG spokesman said: “This is a complex planning application which is being considered with due process. We have recently received post-inquiry representations which we need to carefully consider. A decision will be made in due course.”
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