Grundon Waste Management and Viridor have submitted a revised planning application to West Sussex County Council detailing its updated proposal for a new state-of-the-art Energy Recovery Facility and Waste Sorting and Transfer Facility at Ford Circular Technology Park in West Sussex.
An initial planning application was submitted in June 2020 with two extensive public consultations being conducted on the proposals. After listening to the feedback received Grundon Waste Management and Viridor were able to make a number of significant updates to the plans.
Among the changes that have been made is a significant reduction in the proposed height of the main Energy Recovery Facility building by 12.7 metres (lowering it from 51.7 metres to 38.5 metres).
The facility has also undergone a major architectural redesign which has enabled improvements to the site layout and created space for a considerable amount of new green areas and landscaping, which will help screen the facilities. The Waste Sorting and Transfer Facility has also been reduced in size – without decreasing its waste management capacity.
We’ve made several significant changes to our plans but, critically, these changes have been made without compromising the waste management capacity or the energy generation output of the facilities.
If approved, the state-of-the-art facilities will be able to process up to 295,000 tonnes of waste a year, diverting it from landfill and helping to close a significant waste management capacity gap in West Sussex. The Energy Recovery Facility will also generate 28MW (net) of energy which will be exported to the National Grid. This is enough to power around 68,000 homes – equivalent to a town the size of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton combined.
Ford Energy from Waste Director Philip Atkinson said: “I’d like to thank everybody who took the time to respond to the consultations on our proposals last year. As a responsible developer, we have taken the time to review and consider all of that feedback to ensure we have put forward the best application.
“We’ve made several significant changes to our plans but, critically, these changes have been made without compromising the waste management capacity or the energy generation output of the facilities. These were both important considerations, given the significant waste management capacity gap in West Sussex.”
West Sussex County Council planning officers will now review the application, before holding a further consultation on the proposals. This provides a further opportunity for the public to comment on the plans.
