New incinerator to be investigated after complaint

The first truckload of waste was delivered to the incinerator on 21 July

Potential planning breaches at a new incinerator are to be investigated.

Waste firm Indaver has been accused of flouting its planning permission by not building a series of recycling facilities at the site in Rivenhall, near Witham in Essex.

A company spokesperson said demand for waste processing was not high enough to warrant their construction.

Green councillor James Abbott claimed residents had been "played by the developers" and Essex County Council said it had opened an enforcement case after receiving a complaint.

Plans for the incinerator were granted in 2010, but work only started in July 2021 after it received a permit to operate, due to commence on 4 August.

It was built with a 35m-tall (114ft) chimney and could take about 595,000 tonnes of black bin waste annually.

The facility was supposed to integrate incineration with recycling, but Abbott said this was not possible if facilities for the latter were never built.

"They have built nothing at all, other than the incinerator," he said.

"They've come out with all the greenwashing slogans about sustainability but, as things stand, we're looking at just a waste incinerator without the benefits we were promised."

The first truckload of waste was delivered to the site on 21 July.

The incinerator was built on the site of a former airfield

Concerns were raised by residents about smoke pouring out of the site in the following days, but Indaver said this was a "normal part" of heating up its new steam boiler.

It denied burning waste ahead of its permit coming into force.

Asked why the recycling facilities had not been built, the spokesperson said: "Building recycling facilities do not recycle more waste unless there is suitable waste available.

"We will add further waste treatment developments as the need is identified."

They said a planning application had been submitted to build new bulky waste treatment, carbon capture and heat recovery plants, adding Indaver was committed to the conditions of its planning permission.

Essex County Council said its inquiries into whether that permission had been breached continued.