Latest news with #incinerator
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Homeowners near approved Swadlincote incinerator now plan to sell their properties
Homeowners plan to sell their properties after a controversial incinerator was given the go-ahead as they fear worsening dust, smells and traffic. Four homeowners in the 18 historic redbrick houses in Woodland Road which sit close to the approved Swadlincote incinerator are in the process of selling their homes following the approval of the facility. The incinerator, approved at appeal by a Government inspector following rejection by Derbyshire County Council would sit off the A444 on the outskirts of the town, on the existing Willshee's waste site. Government inspector Paul Griffiths effectively concluded that the benefits of the waste facility in diverting waste from landfill and energy creation outweighed the 'significant harm' to the area and its residents. A spokesperson for Willshee's has confirmed that the firm will not be the operator of the new incinerator facility. READ MORE: Plans for more than 100 homes in Derbyshire village return after two failed attempts READ MORE: Woman who allowed 12 cats to 'starve to death' in Derbyshire flat avoids jail Now Woodland Road residents see the incinerator approval as the final straw, following frustrations with the existing Willshee's waste plant, and the impending concerns about the disruption from the new 60-metre-tall facility. Geoff Cooper, who has lived in Woodland Road for 50 years, said: 'I don't want it. I am not happy with it, but what can you do? 'I don't know how they will manage it when there is disruption from what is there now. There was a fire a few weeks ago and there was thick smoke all over the place.' An unnamed resident said: 'I can't say I am best pleased about it. I am worried about the traffic, we already have all the Willshee lorries going up and down here every day. Getting out of your own driveway is already difficult. We are not looking forward to it.' They said they were glad they were already in the process of selling their home. Rebecca and Simon Cuff have lived in Woodland Road for 10 years. Mr Cuff said: 'We are not impressed really. It is so close and it is going to be all day and all night, with smoke and particulate. It will be unsightly in the landscape.' Mrs Cuff, who has asthma, says she is concerned about the impact on her own health. She said: 'I had this horrible thought that it was going to go through. There is another one at Drakelow and another in Sinfin, it makes no sense.' They said the facilities on site already frequently 'stink', adding: 'It is already bad enough as it is.' Mrs Cuff said: 'We'd like to move now. We don't really feel like we want to be here anymore. It is a shame. It is probably going to lower our house prices now though.' Peter McQuilton, who has lived in Woodland Road for 20 years, said: 'There is not a lot we can do about it now. We objected but they didn't listen. We have been overridden. This isn't new, this has been happening to councils for several governments.' A further resident, who is also now in the process of selling their home after 43 years in Woodland Road, said his garden seating was recently covered in soot and ash from the Willshee's facility fire in May. They said: 'We just don't know what to do. I am now finalising the paperwork to sell the house. 'We can't understand why highways didn't object when we already cannot get out of our drive. How they (Willshee's) can run this new facility when they already can't control what they have already, I don't know. 'It will be taller than the Tall Chimney, I can't believe it. I just can't believe they have passed it. I thought everybody fighting against it would mean something. So many people opposed it, people living in the vicinity and people from far away, that is how strongly we all felt about it.' A spokesperson for Willshee's said: 'Willshee's recognises the value of the Planning Inspectorate's decision to approve the development of the new Energy Recovery Facility adjacent to our Swadlincote site. The facility will be operated by a separate contractor with a proven track record of running Energy from Waste facilities of similar scale and technology to that of the SERF. 'It is designed to create a clean, safe and secure supply of renewable energy by recovering energy from residual, non-recyclable waste – helping to reduce reliance on landfill, lower carbon emissions, and ultimately support the UK's transition to a more sustainable, circular economy. Willshee's will supply a significant proportion of this waste fuel, and co-locating the facility next to our operations is expected to help reduce vehicle movements across the wider region, while supporting the proximity principle of managing waste as close as possible to the source of waste. 'Willshee's current operations will continue alongside the new facility and remain fully compliant with all existing permits and regulations.'
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Rejected £150m Swadlincote incinerator plan approved after appeal
Rejected plans for a £150m incinerator that were opposed by thousands of residents have been approved by a government inspector following an for the scheme off the A444 on the outskirts of Swadlincote were rejected by Derbyshire County Council's planning committee's in September inspector Paul Griffiths held a public inquiry into the plans in April and May after developers appealed against the decision to block the 60m-tall "energy-from-waste" decision to approve the project, which will be called Swadlincote Energy Recovery Park, was revealed on Monday. More than 3,400 people signed a petition opposing the scheme and more than 1,200 submitted objection letters citing concerns over pollution, health issues, traffic and landscape impact. The developer R&P Clean Power Limited said the facility would be capable of powering 36,000 homes and would divert hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste away from landfills or facilities in will visit the site nearly 200 times a day on weekdays, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).Mr Griffiths wrote in his decision notice: "In my judgment, the harm that would be caused, in its totality, while significant, would be outweighed by the benefits the proposal would bring forward."Any installation of this sort is going to result in harmful impacts, and it has not been argued that there are sequentially better sites available, especially sites that would provide the obvious co-locational benefits, and a rail spur."The approval of the appeal will mean there are three incinerators in southern Derbyshire, one in Sinfin, one in Drakelow and one in costs will be paid by Derbyshire County Council to the developers due to the inspector finding it "unreasonable" that the scheme was turned down based on a perceived lack of need, the LDRS said. 'Absolutely gutted' Dr Tracey Wond, who led the Community Against the Swadlincote Incinerator campaign group, said: "We're deeply disappointed by the decision to allow the Swadlincote incinerator to go ahead – despite thousands of local objections, a unanimous planning refusal, and serious concerns that remain unresolved."A spokesperson for the project said it was a "shame" the taxpayer had to part-fund the appeal despite council planning officers recommending the original application for added: "This £200m private sector investment into the state-of-the-art Swadlincote Energy Recovery Facility on a former railyard and coal transfer centre will create a clean, safe and secure supply of renewable energy."It will help to divert the waste that can't be recycled from landfill to provide a low carbon source of heat and power for local homes and businesses."Amy Wheelton, a district and county councillor, who spoke at the public inquiry, said she was "absolutely gutted" and dubbed the decision "bonkers and shortsighted".Derbyshire County Council has been asked to provide a statement.
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Rivenhall incinerator begins burning county's household waste
A new incinerator will start to burn household waste from Essex on facility at Rivenhall, near Witham, will eventually burn nearly 600,000 tonnes of rubbish every say that Indaver, which built the incinerator, has flouted planning permission because it has not also built recycling facilities as first planned – something which Essex County Council is now said it planned to build alternative recycling facilities at the site in the future when demand warrants them. Plans for the incinerator were granted in 2010, but work started only in July 2021 after a permit to operate was than 200 lorries will bring household waste to the site every day between Monday and Saturday to be burned instead of going to said it would eventually be able to generate 65MW of electricity – enough to power 130,000 homes – once it reaches full capacity by March 2026. Gareth Jones, of Indaver, said harmful emissions would be minimised using processes to capture acid gases, heavy metals and added that there would be no smell coming from the chimney "because the smells are caused by any organics, and they're all destroyed by the incinerator".Any potential smells might come from the waste as it was being delivered, Mr Jones said, adding that the rest of the facility "is under negative pressure", drawing air into the incinerator and not releasing odours into the also addressed residents' concerns about the impact of more than 400 lorry movements a day on the roads, especially on the A120, which has the site's only available entrance for lorries."All of that waste is already on the road going somewhere else, so we're not adding extra traffic to the road network," he told the BBC."Even with that total amount of trucks on the A120, that's only 2% of the volume of the traffic already on the A120, so it's not a significant increase." Enforcement case James Abbott, a Green Party member of Braintree District Council, said he felt "royally played" by Indaver for not building four recycling facilities next to the incinerator, as in the original County Council removed a planning clause in 2024, which allowed the incinerator to open without the recycling facilities, as long as they were added later."What we've seen over the many, many years since this was originally granted consent is endless goalposts moving," Mr Abbott said."This plant was supposed to have an 85,000-tonne anaerobic digestion [to process food waste] – they haven't built it."We were promised this 'integrated' – as it was called – waste site with all sorts of recycling elements included, and we need them locally." The county council confirmed it had opened an enforcement case after receiving a complaint about potential planning breaches, but said that did not necessarily mean any rules had been Jones said Indaver was "not concerned" by the investigation, adding that it was confident everything it had done was in line with planning and legislation."Just because you have planning permission to build something doesn't mean you're obliged to build it," he added that there was "more than enough capacity already" for anaerobic digestion, and that Indaver planned to build other types of recycling facilities at the site, including one which can recycle bulky waste such as sofas and armchairs which cannot be taken to tips anymore."We want to get on and build other things – we've got this huge site [but] we don't want to build things unless there's an actual need for them," Mr Jones said. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
31-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Heighington hazardous waste incinerator could open next year
The company behind a hazardous waste incinerator plant which attracted thousands of objections says it hopes to be in operation in the first quarter of facility on Heighington Lane in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has already been built by Fornax North East but requires an environmental permit from the Environment Agency (EA).The firm said the plant will use "the best available techniques to safely dispose of waste".Durham County Council approved planning permission for the incinerator on 5 December 2022 following an appeal, but more than 2,000 residents living nearby have submitted objections to an EA consultation over the permit. About 70% of the waste treated in the plant will be clinical waste from across the North East and North Yorkshire. The remaining 30% will be classed as hazardous said clinical waste will include used needles and blades, scrubs and surgical materials from clinical waste will comprise waste medicines, pharmaceutical waste, packaging, along with some plastics from discarded electricals, as well as paints and DIY chemicals, cleaning products from industrial settings and agricultural chemicals. Ian Jones, CEO of Fornax, said: "This part of the sector has seen years of underinvestment in the UK and high temperature thermal treatment plants, such as this, are desperately required."Fornax will be using state-of-the art technology, aiming to set a new gold standard in how the UK manages this waste safely and sustainably."He said that the company is committed to "delivering cleaner, greener and safer solutions for high temperature thermal treatment". Hannah-Lucy Jackson, who lives in Heighington, previously said she did not want her community to become the next waste "horror story".Fornax said all waste will be brought on to the site in sealed airtight containers and emissions from the plant will be closely EA is expected to announce a draft decision on the permit in the winter and then another public consultation will be held on that decision.A spokesperson said: "We are now making our technical assessment, taking all the evidence and issues raised during the public consultation into account." Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
28-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Rivenhall incinerator to be investigated after complaint
Potential planning breaches at a new incinerator are to be firm Indaver has been accused of flouting its planning permission by not building a series of recycling facilities at the site in Rivenhall, near Witham in Essex.A company spokesperson said demand for waste processing was not high enough to warrant their councillor James Abbott claimed residents had been "played by the developers" and Essex County Council said it had opened an enforcement case after receiving a complaint. Plans for the incinerator were granted in 2010, but work only started in July 2021 after it received a permit to operate, due to commence on 4 was built with a 35m-tall (114ft) chimney and could take about 595,000 tonnes of black bin waste annually. The facility was supposed to integrate incineration with recycling, but Abbott said this was not possible if facilities for the latter were never built."They have built nothing at all, other than the incinerator," he said."They've come out with all the greenwashing slogans about sustainability but, as things stand, we're looking at just a waste incinerator without the benefits we were promised."The first truckload of waste was delivered to the site on 21 July. Concerns were raised by residents about smoke pouring out of the site in the following days, but Indaver said this was a "normal part" of heating up its new steam denied burning waste ahead of its permit coming into why the recycling facilities had not been built, the spokesperson said: "Building recycling facilities do not recycle more waste unless there is suitable waste available."We will add further waste treatment developments as the need is identified."They said a planning application had been submitted to build new bulky waste treatment, carbon capture and heat recovery plants, adding Indaver was committed to the conditions of its planning County Council said its inquiries into whether that permission had been breached continued. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
