New £150m incinerator plant set for approval

A £150m incinerator plant in Derbyshire is set to be approved despite attracting more than 1,000 letters of objection.

R&P Clean Power Limited is behind the scheme, which would be built on a site in Keith Willshee Way, close to the A444 on the outskirts of Swadlincote.

After nearly two years pending at Derbyshire County Council, the plans are now to be decided at a meeting on 2 September.

Opposing campaigners claim it is not needed and cite health and pollution concerns, along with fears over heavy industrial lorry traffic to and from the site.

The plant would be capable of generating power for 36,000 homes and could stop hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste being sent to landfills or facilities in Europe, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

As well as the objection letters, 1,745 people having signed a petition opposing the scheme.

County council papers detail that the incinerator would produce 19.5 megawatts of electricity per year and process 230,000 tonnes of non-hazardous “residual waste”, which would have been destined for landfill.

The applicant's initial aim is to have the plant, if approved, up and running by mid-2026, the LDRS said.

County councillor for the Linton division, Stuart Swann, objected to the scheme due to the lack of a “strategic need” for the facility, due to a competing scheme in nearby Drakelow.

County council officials, recommending approval, refer to the impact of extra traffic as "reasonably neutral in the overall planning balance" and the the environmental effect can be mitigated.

They said: "The proposed development would not result in any unacceptable impact on local amenity of health and quality of life as a result of noise, emissions to air or ground or odour and is not considered to result in any significant residual environmental effects."

Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.