The site was previously recommended by a planning inspector's report earlier in the year, with several alternative locations deemed unsuitable due to being too small for the size of energy from waste plant required or putting endangered wildlife at risk.
A spokesman for the council confirmed that a planning application would now be submitted, though the authority has stressed that any submission would be subject to the normal planning process.
The Longcross plant would deal with the majority of Surrey County council's target of processing 270,000 tonnes of household waste annually using energy from waste technology by 2012.
Planning
It hopes to achieve the remainder of its target by building a second EfW plant at the Clockhouse Brickworks, Capel, a proposal that has already entered the planning process
Peter Martin, the county council's executive member for the environment, Peter Martin, sought to allay concerns that the proposed developments would affect the council's commitment to recycling, reuse and waste minimisation.
He said: “We intend to dispose of as little waste as possible through EfW technology and our aim is to concentrate on encouraging people to reduce the amount of waste they create.
“However, realistically there will still be waste for us to dispose of after we have been through this process,” he added. “EfW is a proven, environmentally sound technology which we can use to reduce the amount of waste we can put into landfill.”
Opposition
Both proposals, which have been advanced as part of the council's PFI-backed waste management contract with the SITA subsidiary Surrey Waste Management, have run into local opposition.
Runnymede borough council, the authority responsible for the area covering the Longcross site, has taken issue with the suitability of the greenfield location, as well as calling for the formal adoption of the Surrey Waste Plan before any planning application is made (see letsrecycle.com story).
“The waste plan identifies incineration and use of greenfield sites as virtually last resort in the waste hierarchy and yet this is precisely what is now being planned in Runnymede as the very first step in implementing the plan,” argued Runnymede leader, councillor John Furey.
“Surrey county council needs to follow due process and allow their waste plan to be formally adopted, to give certainty to the planning process in guiding what planning applications might be appropriate,” he added.
At the same time, Mole Valley district council, which includes the proposed Capel site within its boundaries, has also criticised plans for an energy from waste incinerator, claiming there is “no need for a flawed and hasty move to mass burn incineration while further and more advanced processes become available”.
However, the spokesman for Surrey County Council confirmed that the authority was hoping that the Capel application would be sent before a planning and regulatory committee for approval in June.
He also revealed that a planning application for the Longcross site would not be submitted before the Surrey Waste Plan was formally approved, a process that will see it sent before the council's executive on April 26 and the full council on May 6.
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