In August last year, RUDDINGTON.info reported on a village-led campaign to “Stop the Incinerator” which was being proposed for the site of the soon-to-be decommissioned Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station.
It followed an application submitted to Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) in July 2020 by Uniper UK Limited for the development of ‘The East Midlands Energy Re-Generation’ (EMERGE) Centre – which it described as a ‘multifuel energy recovery facility – to recover energy from waste material’. This proposal meant environmental campaigners’ initial joy – that a coal fired power plant now so little used by The National Grid was to be be shut down by 2025 – quickly turned to dismay on learning what might replace it.
Those objecting to this proposal – including both our Ruddington Labour Borough Councillors and Ruddington Parish Council – said this is NOT the sort of waste recycling our planet needs. Moreover, as Ruddington is downwind from the site, there were concerns that the burning of plastics and other noxious materials could produce even worse odours and air quality issues for our village than the coal which is burnt there now. Village campaigners also had the support of UKWIN (The United Kingdom Without Incineration Network) which submitted its own 118 point objection to the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plans.
Despite these concerns – and other more environmentally-friendly proposals also received for the site – this week NCC’s Planning and Rights of Way Committee resolved to grant planning permission for Uniper to build its EMERGE centre at an estimated cost of £330m. It reports that its committee “…carefully considered the environmental impact of the planning application by Uniper for the new centre, including any effect on carbon emissions, the greenbelt and for local communities” before approving the plans. The facility is designed to be able to manage at least 472,000 tonnes of residual waste per year and should create 45 permanent new jobs, once up and running in 2024.
Councillor Richard Butler, Chairman of the Planning and Rights of Way Committee, says: “No application decision by this committee is ever taken lightly, and we all take very seriously the County Council’s pledge to solve the climate emergency in Nottinghamshire. However, once all the evidence was carefully considered, it was concluded that the incinerator would bring benefits for the people of Nottinghamshire without impacting our commitment for carbon neutrality to be reached by 2030.”
He continues: “This new centre will provide a much better way to manage residual waste compared to disposing it at landfill, the only other alternative, and will generate electricity to power itself and also around 90,000 homes via the National Grid. The construction will take place on already developed greenbelt land, and the visual impact of the new incinerator will be mitigated by demolishing two existing power station cooling towers.”
Cllr Butler adds: “Strict guarantees were placed in the planning permission for vehicles bringing in waste to stick to the A453 and avoid nearby villages. We also considered the economic benefits from the new incinerator including 45 new jobs, £330 million of investment into the county and the potential role it will play in the ongoing redevelopment of the power centre site. Overall, the committee accepted that this new centre will provide an acceptable way to manage Notts’ residents and businesses non-recyclable waste while protecting our precious environment.”
Ruddington Borough Councillor Jen Walker welcomes the decommissioning of Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power station, since it is now rarely used and shows a hopeful commitment to moving off fossil-based fuels in the UK. However, she says the choice to replace it with yet another incinerator is “lazy” and immensely damaging for the environment…
“It would appear to be a solution to the UK waste problem but the plan is riddled with inconsistencies and problems. Fundamentally, we are still burning fossil fuels in the form of plastics and the statistics show that incineration brings down recycling rates. Rushcliffe already recycles or incinerates 95% of its waste so the big question remains: Where will the feedstock for this giant incinerator come from?” she asks.
She complains that this question wasn’t answered in today’s debate (22nd June 2021) and yet County Councillors still voted in favour. “One thing we do know is this rubbish is to be shipped in by HGV vehicles adding much more pollution to our already congested roads. The fundamental issue of overconsumption and excess waste needs tackling and this lacklustre plan passed at Nottinghamshire County Council does nothing to deal with the real issues of our age – I have heard said that we will be mining landfill in the future for the essential resources we have burnt up a flue in our haste to get rid of the mountain of rubbish we have created.”
Cllr Walker says she is hopeful that the request by the Stop Ratcliffe-on-Soar Incinerator Group to have the plan ‘Called-In’ will be heard by the Secretary of State Robert Jenrick*. “Then we can have a full public enquiry into whether there is a need for such a giant incinerator in our back garden when twenty already exist or are planned to be built within a two hour radius!”
However, Nottinghamshire County Council says, before it approved these plans, the application was already subjected to three rounds of consultations – with no objections raised by Rushcliffe Borough Council.
If the plans do go ahead as envisaged, the overall construction period for the centre is estimated to be 36 months – with an anticipated opening date of December 2024.
{Site images courtesy of Uniper Energy}
*UPDATE: 23rd July 2021:
Nottinghamshire County Council says it will will now proceed with finalising planning permission for the new EMERGE centre at Ratcliffe-on-Soar after the Secretary of State decided not to call it in.
The next stage in the process follows the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) accepting the county council’s approval of the planning application from Uniper.
This was confirmed in a letter from MHCLG to county council officials. It said MP Robert Jenrick was content the application should be determined by Nottinghamshire County Council, and as a result the decision would not be called-in.
As previously reported above, the county council’s Planning and Rights of Way Committee initially gave approval to the planning application by Uniper last month.
