Swansea council’s planning committee’s refusal to grant planning permission for an energy-from-waste (EfW) plant ‘major error in judgment”, says stakeholder engagement specialist.
The Biffa EfW plant, planned for a business park at Llansamlet, would process 21,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste that would otherwise go to landfill in Merthyr Tydfil.
Planning officers had recommended approval, saying there was no significant impact on residents, however the plant received local opposition, with more than 2,500 letters sent to the council urging it to refuse permission amid air-quality concerns.
Lee Petts – “Given that the Welsh government has only recently declared a climate emergency, this is no time to be ruling-out the generation of energy from residual waste in favour of continuing to send it to landfill some thirty miles away,”
BBC News reported that Extinction Rebellion activists staged a protest against the EfW plans outside a Biffa premise yesterday(7 May) morning, and that the decision by the council to refuse the proposal was unanimous.
Managing director of 52M Consulting and stakeholder engagement specialist, Lee Petts, said the council’s decision to refuse planning permission was a “major error in
“Given that the Welsh government has only recently declared a climate emergency, this is no time to be ruling-out the generation of energy from residual waste in
“Not only will trucking waste to Merthyr
“There is a strong environmental case for burning waste that can’t be recycled and extracting its latent energy content, helping to displace fossil fuels in electricity generation – it’s why so many countries that we regard as ‘green exemplars’ make such widespread use of waste-to-energy incineration.
“The decision by Swansea city councillors to refuse planning permission in this instance amounts to a failure of common sense.”
Swansea council has been contacted for comment.