Plans approved for 23.5m North Selby AD plant

Manchester-based firm Peel Environmental, a subsidiary of property and holdings firm Peel Group, was given the green light for the proposals by nine votes to six at a meeting of the planning committee last week (April 25), the council has confirmed.

The plans will see a 17.5 million AD facility capable of processing 60,000 tonnes of organic and agricultural waste per year on the former North Selby Mine site on New Road, between the villages of Wheldrake and Escrick.

The AD process will produce up to 1.5MW of heat and 2.75MW of electricity, while also creating up to 30,000 tonnes of digestate each year for use on agricultural land as a biofertiliser.

The heat and some of the electricity produced by the AD plant will be used by the 6 million glasshouse also to be built on the site and exported to the national grid via an existing on-site connection.

The site will also feature a horticultural glasshouse facility, which will be operated by plant propagating firm Plant Raisers, which will largely be used to graft tomato plants.

Opposition

According to the planning committee report recommending the approval of the Peel Environmentals plans, the application has been strongly opposed by the local community.

Local residents in the North Selby Mine Action Group, which opposes the facility, say the site lies on green belt land which should be protected and that the increase in heavy goods vehicles movements on the access road could potentially impact on public health.

However, the report recommended approval of the application on the basis that the identified adverse impacts do not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits offered by the scheme. The benefits of the facility were listed in the document as renewable energy generation, the diversion of waste from landfill and job creation.

Delighted

Richard Barker, development manager at Peel Environmental, said: There are significant benefits that our plans will bring to the local area and we are keen to see these delivered.

He added: The facility will provide an economic boost to the area, providing up to 256 jobs during construction and 56 full time positions and 50 seasonal positions during operation, with the impact of these in the region of 2.2million Gross Value Added (GVA) per year. It will also facilitate the expansion of a successful Yorkshire business.

We are delighted that councillors have not only recognised the benefits of such a significant amount of private investment, but also the positive impact that this facility will have on the environment. It will provide 20,000 tonnes per year of carbon savings compared to sending the waste to landfill greater than the levels of CO2 produced by city of York council. This will contribute to ambitious targets to reduce emissions and increase recycling in York and the surrounding areas.

James Alexander, Labour leader of city of York council, said that the application approval for the facility by a cross-party planning committee was great news for York.

He added: We know this is a sensitive site and we will be encouraging residents and the developer to work together over mitigating the local impact. We look forward to working with Peel Environmental throughout the development of the new anaerobic digestion plant, which will use organic waste to produce power for about 3,500 homes.