News: Manvers waste plans go to board

Members of Rotherham Council's planning board are being recommend to approve plans for a new waste recycling centre in Manvers.

A partnership between Shanks Group plc and SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc), 3SE plans to use three sites to treat waste with this new facility adjacent to the NEXT warehouse at Brookfield's Park, designed to create material suitable for recovery and recycling.

The facility would receive up to 265,000 tonnes per annum and treat leftover household waste from Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham. The three councils secured £77m through the Private Finance Initiative for the scheme.

The plans, put together by consultants, Mouchel, are for 20,500 sq m of buildings on six hectares of brownfield land which was once part of the former Manvers Colliery spoil tip and coke works. Around 11% of the site in the Green Belt.

The buildings include the main intelligent transfer station (ITS) and anaerobic digestion (AD) buildings, together with an administration and visitor centre building, workshop, weighbridge and gatehouse.

The planner's report states that the application should be approved and details the need to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and the appropriate use of the land. The impact on highway capacity and road safety, local wildlife, air quality, noise and odour is also addressed. Planning permission would be subject to a number of conditions such as those that restrict the time of operation and deliveries.

With regard to the Green Belt, the plans state that: "The development is not considered to have a materially detrimental impact on the visual amenity or openness of the Green Belt when viewed from the surrounding areas due to the existing imposing warehouse developments to the south.

"The area to the north has been recently landscaped It is considered that the principle of a waste management facility is acceptable in this location from a planning policy perspective.

"Very special circumstances exist which outweigh the harm of inappropriate development partially within the Green Belt."

The report adds that: "The transport assessment is considered to demonstrate that the proposal will not have a materially detrimental impact over and above the existing junction capacity."

Monthly meetings are expected between the three Councils' Waste Management departments and they will have a significant amount of future control of the site for the duration of the development.

The Manvers plant is expected to create 40 jobs with more in the construction phase. Construction is expected to take 28 months with completion scheduled for winter 2014. After a period of testing, the plant is expected to become fully operational in spring 2015.

The planning board meets to discuss the plans on April 5.

BDR Waste Partnership website

Images: SSE / Mouchel