Disappointment as £330m incinerator is given the green light
CAMPAIGNERS AND SOME COUNCILLORS OPPOSED PLANS FOR POWER STATION SITE
PLANS for a £330 million rubbish incinerator have been approved – despite opposition from environmental campaigners.
The complex will replace the coalfuelled power station at Ratcliffe-on Soar, which dominates the skyline near the M1 and East Midlands Airport. The power station has been earmarked for decommissioning.
Members of Nottinghamshire County Council’s planning committee voted, by nine to three, to back the plan drawn up by energy firm Uniper.
Uniper’s planning application noted some of the key negative impacts identified during planning assessment, all of which were discussed during the meeting.
These concerns included visual impacts, the impact on heritage structures and the demolition of two cooling towers.
Also raised was that the construction and operation of the Emerge facility (East Midlands Energy ReGeneration Centre) would “result in some residual minor environmental issues on air quality, noise, dust and ecology”.
However, Uniper said the magnitude of the effect would be “within the parameters of established environmental control limits”.
Andy Read, the redevelopment manager for Uniper, told the committee: “Our vision for Radcliffe is for development that creates high-value jobs based on modern industry and manufacturing served by an on-site energy hub
“This hub would enable electricity and heat to be shared between the businesses and we see it as a key enabler for new businesses coming to the site.
“It gives an immediate climate improvement by displacing landfill and it does have pathways to netzero and indeed net-negative, which is set out in our application, given the right future policy from government.”
The plans were condemned by members of climate action group Extinction Rebellion, as well as a number of councillors, during the meeting on Tuesday.
Extinction Rebellion’s Dr Monica Pallis said the council’s strategies had not caught up with rapidly changing methods which aim to reduce carbon emissions. “Your administration badly needs a sustainable waste strategy fit for a climate emergency,” she said.
Councillor Jen Walker, the leader of Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Labour group, suggested the proposed creation of 45 jobs was “pitiful” and asked where the waste would come from and where the residual ash would be buried after it was burned.
Councillor Daniel Williamson, for Ashfield Independents, said: “I am deeply disappointed by the planning committee’s decision after a robust debate.
“The climate emergency is happening now, it’s no longer a problem for our children and is very much today’s issue.
“Dressing up an incinerator as an environmentally desirable option is not only wrong but deeply disturbing in context.”
According to the committee the plant will produce and emit carbon dioxide at a net carbon gain of more than 100 tonnes every year.
Uniper said incineration is the better option due to waste creating methane when placed in a landfill, while the energy created from the plant will help support the businesses which could be built on-site.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar could also be put up as a potential location for a nuclear fusion plant.
The plans must now go to the Secretary of State for approval.