Delays over incinerator planning application

DERBYSHIRE County Council has again delayed a decision on a controversial planning application to build a £35m incinerator close to homes near Chesterfield.

It had been thought the application for the development at Sheepbridge, which has been submitted by waste company Cyclamax, would have been considered by the county's planning committee last month or in January. However, the proposed meeting date is now Monday, February 22.

Cylamax first submitted the application for the "resource park", which covers a seven-acre site, in July 2008 and held a series of public exhibitions that year.

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It says the plant would be a "sustainable business that produces renewable energy, increases recycling and reduces landfill" and would also create more than 100 new engineering and process jobs.

The resource park would be made up of a 60,000 tonne capacity gasification plant, producing combined heat and power, and a 20,000 tonne materials recycling facility.

As well as the incinerator, which is the first phase of the project, Cyclamax also plans to develop a "Sustainable Employment Park" at the Sheepbridge site.

That employment park would consist of roughly 60,000 square feet of industrial space and would have all of its electricity and heat needs met by the adjacent waste plant.

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Surplus electricity would then be sold onto the local grid, to provide power for needs of up to 16,000 households in Chesterfield.

The planning application has, however, generated a great deal of opposition from residents.

A spokesman for the Chesterfield Against Incineration action group, which was set up to campaign against the plans, said they were disappointed by the latest delay but they were heartened by a decision by Derby City Council to reject a planning application for an incinerator on a site in the city.