'Clarification' sought over Wisbech incinerator approval

The Planning Inspectorate is seeking "clarification" on the government's approval of a new incineration plant.

MVV Environment wants to build the waste-to-energy incinerator on the Algores Industrial Estate in Wisbech, near the Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border.

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho granted development consent on Tuesday.

But the inspectorate later removed information about the decision from its website on Wednesday evening, promising a further update "in due course".

The "decided" status of the application on the webpage was changed back to "decision", suggesting it was now yet to be made.

A notice on the site read: "We have removed previously published content. Clarification is being sought on the Medworth Energy from Waste Combined Heat and Power Facility Development Consent Decision.

"A further update will be provided in due course."

Meanwhile, an Environment Agency public consultation on the issuing of a permit for the incinerator - expected to be one of the biggest in Europe - ended on Thursday.

Asked if the government was right to announce a decision before the outcome of the consultation, the agency said: "Our environmental permit is issued separately to the Planning Inspectorate issuing their own decision."

It added it would only issue a permit for the incinerator if it believed harm to the environment, people and wildlife would be minimised and that the operator had the ability to meet the conditions of the permit.

"While the Planning Inspectorate has now made its decision, if our previous consultations had shown we were unlikely to have issued a permit, we would have made this clear in the planning process.

"The result of our consultation will be confirmed in due course."

Several councils and groups are opposed to the building of the Wisbech facility, and campaigners have said it would cause pollution in a built-up area.

Ms Coutinho's decision cannot be appealed but there may be a chance to challenge it at judicial review.

Fenland District Council will consider a motion on Monday on whether to seek legal advice on a possible challenge.

In a statement, Steve Tierney, district councillor for Wisbech, said: "This decision is a slap in the face for the local democratic process and has resulted in real fear and understandable anger in the local community."

His motion to go before Fenland District Council on Monday asks members to agree to "authorise officers to instruct legal counsel with appropriate expertise to provide their opinion in respect of this decision and the way in which it has been made by the secretary of state."

It proposes that officers discuss with other local authorities whether they would contribute towards the cost of a judicial review.

Wisbech Town Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Norfolk County Council, King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority have opposed the project.

Virginia Buckner, who set up the campaign group WisWIN (Wisbech Without Incineration), said she had been "inundated" with messages since the announcement of the approval.

"It's not just [the] incinerator... hundreds of lorries will be coming into Wisbech daily.

"It makes no business sense - no ecological sense," she added.

She told the BBC she had "already received a £2,000 offer to start the [legal] ball rolling".

She also said she had been given "a lot of professional advice within the last 24 hours of how we could proceed with this".

Any attempt at securing a judicial review must be made within six weeks.

MVV Environment said preventing waste going to landfill and burning it would generate energy for local industrial use.

It stated that up to 625,600 tonnes of non-recyclable household, commercial and industrial waste would be burned at the site each year.

This could generate more than 50 million watts of electricity and up to 30 million watts of steam heat, it added.

Paul Carey, managing director of MVV Environment Limited, said on Tuesday he was "clearly very pleased" the plans had been approved and construction would probably begin "sometime in 2025".

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