Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has today (May 27) rejected Veolia Environmental Services planning application to develop a large-scale Rainworth energy-from-waste plant near Nottingham.
Mr Pickles this morning wrote to Nottinghamshire county council to inform them that he had opted to agree with the planning inspectors decision to refuse the proposed 180,000 tonnes-a-year capacity plant.
The grounds given in a 285-page planning report were that the Communities Secretary could not be satisfied that the plan would not harm the integrity of the local area and that it was deemed to conflict with the development and national planning policies.
The planning report indicates that there was a positive in that the development of the 90 million plant would lead to pushing Nottinghamshires treatment methods up the waste hierarchy.
The plant was set to form a cornerstone of Veolias long-term, 850 million residual waste contract with Nottinghamshire county council, which was signed in June 2006 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Nottinghamshire granted planning permission for the plant in January 2009, however, the proposal was called in for decision by the Secretary of State on March 18 2009. A public inquiry started in October 2009.
Disappointed
Commenting on todays decision by Mr Pickles, Steve Mitchell, managing director of Veolia ES Nottinghamshire, said the company was disappointed with the decision on the project, which has been in development for five years.
He said: A state of the art Energy Recovery Facility would have significantly reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill in Nottinghamshire, generated enough electricity for 15,000 homes and heat for other local businesses and future developments.
The facility would have helped regenerate the Rainworth economy and the surrounding area by bringing new jobs and investment.
Mr Mitchell added that the Veolia planning team had worked with professionalism and integrity. He added: In the coming weeks we will work with Nottinghamshire county council to consider alternative options and a way forward on how to deal with the countys municipal waste.
And, Mick Burrows, chief executive at Nottinghamshire county council said: “We now have a decision from the Secretary of State and it brings this long standing issue to a conclusion. We will now work to find alternative sustainable waste management solutions for the people of Nottinghamshire.
Waste
Meanwhile, the decision was welcomed by campaign group People Against Incineration (PAIN). PAIN coordinator Shlomo Dowen, said: It is unfortunate that Veolia and Nottinghamshire county council have squandered so much time and public money on this misadventure.
Now that this distraction is over PAIN looks forward to working with our county council to ensure that Nottinghamshires ever-decreasing quantity of waste is managed sustainably.
In October 2010, Mr Dowen was at the forefront of a legal action involving Nottinghamshires work with Veolia, in which the Mansfield resident was allowed access to the financial details of the waste contract between the council and the company (see letsrecycle.com story).
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