Incinerator granted environmental permit

MVV Environment wants to build the waste-to-energy incinerator on the Algores Way industrial estate in Wisbech

A £300m waste incinerator has been granted an environmental permit.

The Environment Agency issued the document on Wednesday for MVV Environment's incinerator at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, close to the Norfolk border.

MVV Environment's managing director Paul Carey said he was "clearly pleased" with the outcome.

However, campaigners said it would contribute to pollution and traffic in the area.

Protesters opposed to the incinerator said it would increase lorry traffic in the town

MVV wants to build the waste-to-energy incinerator on the Algores Way industrial estate in the Fenland town.

The project was granted development consent in February, but in April was impacted by a temporary ban on permits for new incinerator plants in England.

This order expired on 24 May.

People living in the town reacted with dismay to the lifting of the ban, raising concerns about lorry traffic and the site's proximity to a local school.

The Environment Agency said it would only issue a permit if it believed harm to the environment, people and wildlife would be minimised and that the operator had the ability to meet its conditions.

Permit conditions

The Environment Agency's permit allows a capacity of up to 625,600 tonnes a year, including non-hazardous household, commercial and industrial waste.

The body imposed a number of conditions on MVV, including maintaining records of the raw materials and water it used.

MVV must set up a written management system that "identifies and minimises risks of pollution".

MVV Environment said more than £300m would be spent on the project

Every five years it must monitor groundwater, and soil every 10 years. Any emissions must be free from odour "at levels likely to cause pollution outside the site".

MVV Environment said more than £300m would be spent on the project, creating 700 jobs initially during the three-year build and 40 full-time skilled jobs once it was up and running.

Mr Carey said: "We're clearly pleased that the permit has now been awarded according to the due process.

"We want to assure the local community that we will be a good neighbour as we build and operate the new facility, as we have already demonstrated at our facilities in Plymouth and Dundee."