Incinerator building to start next year
Many have been wondering whether it would go-ahead
CONSTRUCTION work on the controversial waste incinerator at Shepshed is set to begin early next year.
The Energy Recovery Facility at the former Newhurst Quarry, off the M1 Junction 23, was initially refused planning permission by Leicestershire County Council in 2011.
It was taken to appeal and the Secre- tary of State granted permission in 2012.
Many people have been wondering if the plan was still going ahead, especially with the recent announcement of new plans for 90 acres of employment land, not far from the incinerator site and the imminent building of homes on Garendon Park.
CONSTRUCTION work on the controversial waste incinerator at Shepshed is set to begin early next year.
The Energy Recovery Facility at the former Newhurst Quarry, off the M1 Junction 23, was initially refused planning permission by Leicestershire County Council in 2011.
It was taken to appeal and the Secretary of State granted permission in 2012.
It will process up to 350,000 tonnes per year of waste as fuel, up from 300,000 tonnes, to generate 33MW of power, up from 21MW – the equivalent to powering 66,000 homes.
Many people have been wondering if the plan was still going ahead, especially with the recent announcement of new plans for 90 acres of employment land, not far from the incinerator site and the imminent building of homes on Garendon Park.
But after an enquiry by the Echo the company said work would probably begin in 2019.
A spokesperson for BIffa said: “As regards progress on the Newhurst Energy from Waste Facility you may have seen press reports last June when Biffa announced a new partnership with Covanta to explore the development of two EfW plants, one in Cheshire (a Covanta project) and one in Leicestershire (Biffa’s Newhurst project).
“We are pleased to say that commercial, financial and design discussions are currently in progress across both projects with a view to hopefully being able to start construction in earnest early next year.
“The intention would also be to re-convene the local liaison group prior to that, to provide an update.”
The company says it generally has liaison groups at its larger sites and it established one at Newhurst a number of years back, around 2011.
The group is made up which is made up of representatives from Biffa, the environment agency, local authorities and nominated people
The spokesperson added that there was around 15 people at the last meeting.
“There hasn’t been a meeting for a while as planning permission was granted but no significant work has been carried out to report on since then.”