The 295,000 tonnes per year capacity facility is planned for the Grundon-owned ‘Ford Circular Technology Park’ which is based in Ford, 10 miles west of Worthing.
An initial planning application was submitted in June 2020 for an EfW plant and a waste sorting and transfer facility. Two public consultations were then held on the proposals (see letsrecycle.com story).
Philip Atkinson, estates director at Grundon and director of Ford Energy from Waste Ltd, said he would like to thank those who had responded last year to the consultations. He said: “As a responsible developer, we have taken the time to review and consider all of that feedback to ensure we have put forward the best application.
“We’ve made several significant changes to our plans but, critically, these changes have been made without compromising the waste management capacity or the energy generation output of the facilities. These were both important considerations, given the significant waste management capacity gap in West Sussex.”
West Sussex county council planning officers will now review the application, before holding a further consultation on the proposals.
Changes
Among the changes to the plans is a reduction in the proposed height of the main energy recovery facility building by 12.7 metres, lowering it from 51.7 metres to 38.5 metres.
The facility has also undergone a “major” architectural redesign, enabling improvements to the site layout and creating space for “a considerable amount” of new green areas and landscaping, which will help screen the facilities, Grundon and Viridor said.
The waste sorting and transfer facility has also been reduced in size.
‘Last resort’
West Sussex county council is historically opposed to incineration in the county, with cabinet member for strategic planning and environment, Steve Waight describing it as a “last resort” in 2004 (see letsrecycle.com story .
Grundon received planning permission in 2014 for a Technology Park which initially included a proposal for an EfW facility to “manage up to 200,000 tonnes of waste per annum”, along with a 60,000 tonne per year capacity MRF, operated by Viridor (see letsrecycle.com story ).
If approved, the Ford EfW plant will generate 28MW of energy for the National Grid, enough to power around 68,000 homes.
Grundon and Viridor already work together on energy from waste, as partners at the Lakeside Energy from Waste plant, near Slough. The Lakeside EfW plant has been operational since 2010, treating around 440,000 tonnes of waste and generating energy to power around 85,000 homes each year.
Related link
The full planning application is available to view on the project website at www.fordctp.com/planning-documents.
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