New £400m Rivenhall incinerator plant must be built by 2026

A £400m incinerator at an ex-airbase must be fully operational by the end of 2026, a county council said.

The facility at Rivenhall, near Braintree, Essex, was due to be built by March last year but work only started in the summer.

Essex County Council has given the firm behind it, Indaver, permission to proceed with the project.

Witham Conservative MP Priti Patel called for "performance measures" to be imposed on the build.

The plans include a combined heat and power plant, a paper pulping plant and an anaerobic digestion facility to treat food and green waste that would generate biogas to make electricity on site.

Plans for the facility had been granted permission in 2010 but it required a permit to operate from the Environment Agency, which was given in 2020.

Essex County Council has now said the site must be all built and operational by 31 December 2026, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Indaver said it would seek to build the facility in full but has an alternative option to just build the incinerator.

The council approval covered building the entire project.

In a letter to the authority's planning committee, Ms Patel said there was "uncertainty" over the plans and whether it would be delivered in full.

The Home Secretary said: "Conditions should include binding performance measures that ensures the development of all elements are being brought forward as authorised."

Committee member John Jowers said: "Local residents have quite rightly objected over many years but, equally, we have given a permission and we are not in a position to deny that."

The Conservative councillor suggested if Indaver did not like the conditions it could apply for planning permission again.

John Ahern, from Indaver, told the planning committee it would "work on any issues that remain outstanding" with the council.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]