An energy-from-waste facility that will manage all of Suffolk’s residual household waste has been given the go ahead.
Planning permission for the 269,000 tonnes per year facility at Great Blakenham near Ipswich was granted today and earlier this month the Environment Agency issued the necessary draft permit for the site – effectively giving SITA UK the green light to proceed. Building work is due to start later this year and the plant should be open by December 2014.
Cliff Matthews, EfW Regional Manager at SITA UK, said: “Today’s decision is excellent news for Suffolk. The days of sending thousands of tonnes of household waste to landfill are coming to an end.
“On a personal note, I would like to thank the people of Suffolk, particularly local residents in and around Great Blakenham, for the open way they have engaged with us since we began consulting on our planning application. We will continue to work closely with local residents as we move to the construction phase later this year.”
Mark Bee, Leader of Suffolk County Council, which has a 25-year contract with SITA UK to build and then run the site, said: “I am delighted we can now start work on this project which will provide Suffolk with a cheaper, greener solution for disposing of household waste which cannot reasonably be recycled.
“We are proud that Suffolk is one of the top recycling areas in the country with over half our household waste recycled. We want to do even better and aim to get to 60 per cent by 2015.
“But there will always be waste left over. Now, we’ll be putting that waste to good use as a fuel to generate electricity. Over the life of the contract this will be around £350 million cheaper than continuing to landfill, and it will also be better for the environment.”
The energy-from-waste facility will bring long-term benefits to the local area with 43 new permanent skilled jobs, plus around 250 jobs created at the peak of construction. A joint venture between CNIM/Lagan has been appointed for the construction work. A range of local business will also benefit with contracts to support construction work and to provide operational support once the facility is up and running. There will also be capacity at the facility for some business waste.
The energy-from-waste facility was designed by architect firm Grimshaw who took inspiration from Suffolk’s open skies to create an eye-catching and unique design.
The facility will feature a state-of the-art glazed visitor centre, landscaped wetland area and an on-site ash processing facility.
Cliff Matthews added: “We have produced a high-quality design for the facility, which we hope will complement its unique setting. We are really excited about getting this new development underway and look forward to helping Suffolk County Council to transform the way waste is managed in the county.”
Written by Stephen Byfield
First of all congratulations on helping getting such a scheme through and what appears to be a very successful public engagement exercise.
A couple of questions I would like to ask having not been involved in the scheme which have to do with the design aspect rather than the wider planning aspects:-
- Where local groups/individuals via yourselves involved in the conceptual stage of the design process?
- If not to what extent did later feed back from your engagement exercise influence the final design of the scheme by Grimshaw?
I’m only asking this as a Planning Officer who is interested in at what stage can the benefits arising from greater public engagement be best initiated. My personal experience has been that competent architects would much prefer to be aware of crucial local areas of importance prior to putting “ink on paper”. In reality however I have come across much resistance from many architects who see later “concessions” as undermining the integrity of their design.
I foresee that companies such as your own will play an increasing role in helping formally integrate the requirements of the Localism Bill into this design process particularly with the advent of the “presumption in favour of sustainable developemnent”
First of all congratulations on helping getting such a scheme through and what appears to be a very successful public engagement exercise.
A couple of questions I would like to ask having not been involved in the scheme which have to do with the design aspect rather than the wider planning aspects:-
- Where local groups/individuals via yourselves involved in the conceptual stage of the design process?
- If not to what extent did later feed back from your engagement exercise influence the final design of the scheme by Grimshaw?
I’m only asking this as a Planning Officer who is interested in at what stage can the benefits arising from greater public engagement be best initiated. My personal experience has been that competent architects would much prefer to be aware of crucial local areas of importance prior to putting “ink on paper”. In reality however I have come across much resistance from many architects who see later “concessions” as undermining the integrity of their design.
I foresee that companies such as your own will play an increasing role in helping formally integrate the requirements of the Localism Bill into this design process particularly with the advent of the “presumption in favour of sustainable development”. I do hope however that there will be some more detailed advise from CLG about the requirements of public engagement. I also hope that the more enlightened architectural practices will quickly see that this will present are real opportunities for them to demonstrate their design skills rather than just obstacles to overcome.