The London Borough of Sutton’s Development Control Committee has granted planning permission to Viridor to build a 275,000-tonne-a-year energy-from-waste incinerator in Beddington, Sutton.

The £200-million incinerator forms part of the waste management company’s strategy for its South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) residual waste contract (signed in November 2012), and will treat around 75,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste.

The Beddington ERF planning application was originally submitted to Sutton council in July 2012 but was later amended as the council was concerned with ‘localised air quality impact, particularly on properties at the north end of Beddington Lane’. The amended proposal contains improvements around air quality, nature conservation, public access and community benefit.

According to Viridor, the facility will provide annual carbon savings of 600,000 tonnes compared to landfill, as well as generating 26 megawatts of electricity – enough to power around 45,000 homes.

Permission conditions

The facility will incinerate residual domestic waste and use the steam to drive a turbine that will produce electricity and heat. This will generate up to 26 megawatts (MW) of electricity, of which 22 MW will be fed into the supply grid via an existing sub-station. Viridor is reportedly in negotiations with the developers of the Felnex site in Hackbridge to bring a ‘heat pipe’ to the site.

Through the legal agreement, Viridor will commit to the closure of the landfill by the end of 2017, six years earlier than presently required.

The permission has 45 conditions attached to it, including the establishment of a community fund so local people can establish the best ways to improve their area over time – this will comprise an initial payment from Viridor of £250,000, 25 annual payments of £25,000, and a further lump sum of £100,000 in 2024.

Viridor will also have to pay for a number of other services as part of the planning agreement including an education centre, an air quality monitoring station in Beddington Lane (with data available on-line), a complaints forum for residents, and on and off-site landscaping including the formation of ponds and new pathways.

The planning application will now go back to the Greater London Authority for agreement.

Facility will ‘unlock millions of pounds of investment’

Commenting on the decision, Deputy Leader, Councillor Colin Hall, said: “I’m very proud of Sutton’s reputation as a green borough, so I’m especially pleased we have found an affordable and environmentally-sustainable way of treating domestic waste. This decision, along with our long-term investment in recycling, means we can stop burying rubbish in the ground, dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions and bring forward work on the Wandle Valley Regional Park.

“All of the credible scientific evidence shows that modern energy recovery facilities, are safe and our technical advisers have been forensically examining Viridor’s proposal for months. This ERF means we can reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, manage our waste locally and unlock millions of pounds of investment for the area.”

The planning permission decision comes just a day after the Environment Agency announced it was “minded to grant” the facility an Environmental Permit. The EA has confirmed that Nitrogen Oxide levels in the Beddington Air Quality Management Area should rise by no more than 0.8 per cent above current levels because of the incinerator, levels which the agency considers to be ‘negligible’.

Robert Ryan, Head of Development Projects at Viridor, said: “The local community should be further reassured about the safety of our proposed ERF by the Environment Agency’s announcement earlier this week that it is minded to grant us and Environmental Permit to operate the facility. We look forward to progressing with the project and to delivering this facility and associated environmental, economic and social benefits.”

Viridor already has two existing contracts with the SLWP (signed in 2008), including a 14-year, £112 million agreement for the ‘transfer, transport and distribution’ of up to 450,000 tonnes of waste and recyclables and an additional agreement to provide the SLWP’s composting, materials recovery and treatment requirements.

Overcapacity

The planning permission makes Viridor’s Beddington plant one of the latest of several energy-from-waste plants to get the go-ahead, despite a recent report from Eunomia Research & Consulting suggesting that the UK could see overcapacity in residual waste treatment plants by 2015, if the current rate of construction is not curbed. The report suggests that due to increased emphasis on recycling, reusing and recovering material, residual waste rates are falling, leaving incinerators without the required levels of waste needed to produce efficient and cost-effective processes.

Viridor will provide an interim service to the partnership beginning in April 2014 until the facility is operational in 2017.

Find out more about the Beddington facility or read more about the incineration process.