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You are here: CIWM  >  Publications  >  Latest News  >  Spelmans Re-Think On PFI Credits For Norfolk EfW Deeply Misguided ESA

Spelmans Re-Think On PFI Credits For Norfolk EfW Deeply Misguided ESA

11 November 2011

The Environmental Services Association (ESA), yesterday (11 November) commented on Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman's decision to withhold PFI credits for the proposed Kings Lynn EFW plant

Willows Power & Recycling Centre, an energy from waste plant, to be located at The Willows Business Park in Saddlebow near King's Lynn is being procured by a consortium consisting of Cory Environmental Ltd and Wheelabrator Technologies Inc, as part of Norfolk County Council's waste management strategy.

It will divert over 250,000 tonnes of waste from landfill per year as well as recovering enough energy to power around 36,000 homes. Metals and ash will also be recycled on site.

The project would save Norfolk County Council £8m a year and in excess of £200m over the 25 year life of the contract compared with landfill as well as creating 300 jobs during the construction phase and 40 during the operation of the plant.

According to a letter received by Liz Truss MP in March 2011, the then waste Minister, Lord Henley, had already provisionally allocated PFI credits to the project.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman wrote to Norfolk County Council on 9 November 2011 suspending PFI credit allocation on the grounds that Norfolk County Council had not demonstrated wide support for the strategy.

ESA's Director of Policy, Matthew Farrow said: "This is a deeply misguided step. Barely a fortnight after the Prime Minister spoke of the urgent need to get infrastructure projects moving, Caroline Spelman, has threatened to withhold the release of PFI credits from an important scheme that was fully in line with her own Department's Waste Review.

"The Government is trying to have it both ways, but at a time when banks will only finance waste management projects where the risks are manageable, this decision could have damaging and far-reaching implications. We all know that no major infrastructure project ever gets universal public support, but waste management companies need to feel confident that if a development is part of a coherent waste management strategy agreed by a local authority, uses technology approved by the regulators and can meet planning requirements then it will be able to proceed.

"If firms don't have this confidence then the Government's intention to divert waste out of landfill starts to look far-fetched. This also has implications across other parts of Government and one wonders what Ms Spelman's Cabinet Colleagues will make of it."

www.esauk.org

Darrel Moore