Waste to Energy Appeal Approved in Gloucestershire
19 September 2011 The secretary of state has approved SITA UK's appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, against the refusal of planning permission for the Severnside Energy Recovery Centre (SERC). The company submitted its original proposals for the waste to energy facility to South Gloucestershire Council in November 2009 and it was subsequently refused by the Council's Development Control West Committee in June 2010. In November 2010, SITA UK submitted an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. According to the company, the proposed facility, located on a site approximately five miles north of Avonmouth, would be capable of diverting up to 400,000 tonnes of non-recycled commercial and industrial waste per year. The facility is expected to generate up to 32 MW of electricity - enough to power approximately of 50,000 homes. SITA claim it would also help local businesses by relieving a multi-million pound landfill tax burden. Gareth Phillips, planning manager at SITA UK, comments: "We are delighted with this ruling and look forward to progressing with our plans to build [the] facility which has already been granted an Environmental Permit following scrutiny from the Environment Agency." "The SERC will play an important role in waste management in the region, disposing of non-recycled material in a safe and clean way whilst providing an alternative to increasingly scarce landfill, and generating enough energy to power around half the homes in South Gloucestershire", adds Gareth. Sign up for Waste Management World's Free E-Mail Newsletters