Norfolk County Council has sought to assure residents that plans to build an energy-from-waste facility with Cory Wheelabrator have been terminated.

Councillor Toby Coke, Chairman of the Environment, Development and Transport (EDT) Committee, issued a statement to committee members during their inaugural meeting on Friday (20 June) to reassure those who had been caused ‘considerable anxiety’ in West Norfolk and King’s Lynn on the content of letters, which were part of an ongoing series of representations from various parties to the Secretary of State, issued by the county council's planning department about the Willows planning application.

The statement follows April’s decision to abandon the King’s Lynn incinerator contract with Cory Wheelabrator.

According to a council spokesperson, the letters at hand were a ‘technical response from the Planning Services Manager on behalf of NCC - the waste planning authority for Norfolk - to the Department for Communities and Local Government in relation to representations made by third parties’ who were concerned that the construction of the incinerator was still going ahead.

Statement Background

Norfolk County Council’s cabinet unanimously voted to abandon its King’s Lynn incinerator contract with Cory Wheelabrator after it was found that for every day the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, delayed making a decision about the planning permission for the Willows Power & Recycling Centre, it cost the council £140,000.

Pickles originally stated that a decision would be made by 14 January 2014, yet no indication had been made as to when one could be expected. Norfolk Council decided to break the contract with Wheelabrator to protect itself from any future costs.

Norfolk County Council will need to pay £20.3 million of capped compensation to Cory Wheelabrator. This and other costs, such as interest rates and public inquiry costs, will bring the total outlay to approximately £33.7 million.

There will be an investigation into how the council came to make this decision and the findings will be published in full when the report has been submitted to the authority. Former councillor Stephen Revell, an Independent Person to the Authority’s Standards Committee, will be responsible for this inquiry.

Statement from the EDT Committee

Members of the committee endorsed the content of the statement from Toby Coke, which read as follows:

''I have circulated copies of letters dated 28 May and 6 June 2014 from the Norfolk County Council planning services manager regarding the on-going saga of the Willows planning application.

“The content of the letters has, understandably, caused considerable anxiety in King's Lynn and the west of Norfolk. I have discussed my concerns over the handling of this matter with the acting Managing Director of Norfolk County Council and I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the situation and put many minds to rest.

“The letters were part of a series of representations from various parties to the Secretary of State, who is still in the process of determining the planning application. Given the history of this planning application it would be politically naive to think a letter like this would not raise significant concerns in the local community. The content is such that I firmly believe that it was an error of judgement to send this letter. The acting Managing Director has confirmed that any future correspondence of this nature, dealing with this site, will be shared with group spokespeople, on behalf of the committee.

"I can also reassure you that the contract with Cory Wheelabrator for the construction and operation of an incinerator on this site has now been terminated. There is no longer any contract and there is no avenue by which this contract can be retrieved - and so Cory Wheelabrator have no contractual link to the Willows site.

“Finally, I can confirm that elected members of the County Council remain fully in control of the fate of this site. The County Council has resolved that until a new waste policy is agreed by Council, disposal of the land at the Willows, including being a part payment with Cory Wheelabrator, will not be permitted without the approval of Full Council.

"In addition, any such sale could, if Full Council is so minded, contain a suitable covenant to prevent the land from being used for incineration.”

Read more about the Willows project and the decision to break contract with Wheelabrator.