Viridor Welcomes Final Ruling On Oxfordshire Project

11 November 2011

Recycling, renewable energy and waste management company Viridor has welcomed the refusal to allow a challenge to the planning permission for an Energy from Waste (EfW) facility at its existing site in Ardley, Oxfordshire, to go to the Court of Appeal

The challenge, by campaign group Ardley Against Incineration (AAI), was dismissed in the hearing yesterday (10 November) by a Court of Appeal judge, enabling the construction of the plant to go ahead.

AAI applied to the High Court to have the Secretary of State's decision (issued in February this year) overturned. This application was firmly refused in July 2011 and permission to appeal was also refused in September 2011. Today's hearing was a last ditch attempt to gain permission to appeal.

Speaking on behalf of the company, Viridor head of projects Robert Ryan said: "We were confident that our proposal for Oxfordshire was carefully and thoroughly developed and today's decision reaffirms that. We can now start preparing for construction works to start so we can deliver a state of the art facility for Oxfordshire in 2014, which will complement its already successful waste prevention, reuse and recycling programmes."

The proposed EfW will provide an essential, long-term alternative to landfill disposal for the council as it will divert from landfill at least 95 per cent of the residual waste delivered to the facility while generating 24 megawatts of electricity - enough electricity to power over 38,000 households.

Energy from Waste is a well established technology which is safe, robust and cost-effective. There are already 429 EfW operational plants in Europe, providing effective diversion of waste from landfill and an alternative to fossil-fuel electricity generation.

www.viridor.co.uk

Darrel Moore