'There is a long way still to go' - Campaigners vow to keep the fight going after controversial Worksop recycling facility gets the green light
Frustrated campaigners have vowed to keep their fight going after controversial plans for a new plastics recycling plant in Worksop were given the green light.
Envale UK moved one step nearer to being able to develop the plastic chemical recycling facility after Nottinghamshire County Council’s planning chiefs dismissed a 1,200 strong petition to approve the site by just one vote.
Lesley Deamer, chair of Rhodesia Parish Council and member of campaign group SRAPP, said campaigners were now seeking specialist advice ahead of deciding their next move.
“We are currently exploring a number of options available to us and awaiting further information on matters that could influence our next steps,” she said.
“We are also seeking specialist advice on aspects of today's proceedings. It is important to highlight that planning approval does not mean the development can simply go ahead.
“The company will still need to obtain the necessary environmental permits from the Environment Agency, and we understand that this application process has not yet commenced. This is a separate regulatory process which will need to be completed before the facility can operate.
“There is therefore still a considerable way to go, and we remain committed to pursuing all appropriate avenues to challenge the proposals and protect our local communities.”
The brownfield site, located at the western edge of the town and accessed from Shireoaks Road, was historically used for the manufacturing of coal products and as a brickworks.
In 2006 permission was granted for a waste transfer and recycling facility on site, but this facility did not materialise. However, planning permission for the scheme remains in force to this day.
Envale says the new plant will prevent 24,369 tonnes each year of non-recyclable residual waste from going to landfill and will generate up to 10 megawatts of heat and 2.5 megawatts of electricity – which is enough to power more than 650 homes every year.
It will achieve this through the plant containing a materials recovery facility, an energy recovery facility and a plastic chemical recycling facility, in which it will break down plastics via a method called pyrolysis.
Tom Bagley, speaking on behalf of Envale, told the committee the waste local plan identifies a “significant shortfall is residual waste treatment capacity” and that the plan notes landfill capacity is “effectively exhausted.”
He said: “Rather than burning or burying these hard-to-recycle plastics, this process provides a circular route back into the manufacturing of new materials.
“This proposal regenerates an existing waste site. The local plan requires waste treatment facilities to be located in suitable locations well related to urban areas – Worksop is indemnified within the local plan as requiring new waste infrastructure.
“This site is allocated in the Bassetlaw District local plan as an existing employment site – it is therefore precisely the type of location that both the Waste Local Plan and the Bassetlaw local plan identify for this form of development.”
Rhodesia Parish Council has also objected to the proposals, which were approved by six votes to five on Tuesday night.
Speaking on behalf of the parish council, Ms Deamer said: “Over the past 20 years, this area has undergone significant transformation. Homes have been built, businesses have invested and communities have grown.
“What was once regarded as an industrial area is now a place where people work, live, raise families and enjoy the surrounding countryside – this progress matters and it must not be put at risk by an inappropriate development.”
The site currently shares an access road with the neighbouring Worksop Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC), operated on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council by Veolia.