'Portland incinerator needed to help with unworkable waste policy'

Nick Roberts told the public inquiry that although incinerators were being proposed at existing waste sites at Canford Magna and Parley neither would be able to deal with the 263,000 tonnes per annum of Dorset waste which was suitable for being incinerated to generate electricity.

He said the only workable solution for the whole of Dorset was the Powerfuel plant being proposed at Portland Port, which Dorset Council has refused planning consent for.

Mr Roberts, who specialises in major developments for energy and waste, claimed that Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, who work together on waste disposal, had “no self-sufficiency whatsoever for residual waste and is failing to meet spatial objectives, completely.”

He said even if the two incinerators did go ahead at Canford Magna and Parley, which he said was extremely unlikely, there would still not be enough capacity and much of the county’s waste would still have to be exported to other counties, or even abroad, to be dealt with - or go to landfill.

He set out a series of technical and planning reasons why the two incinerators planned for the east of the county will not be viable, in his opinion. They included constraints because of  the Green Belt, their limited size and proximity to sites of special scientific interest and Bournemouth Airport’s flight paths.

Mr Roberts said this contrasted to the Powerfuel Portland proposal which would have the necessary capacity and offered the benefits of shoreside power for visiting cruise ships, the potential of heating for the island's prisons and with additional energy to power future developments in the port area.

He also claimed that the Portland energy from waste plant would allow for the local disposal of locally produced household waste, would reduce ‘waste miles’ from Dorset and BCP rubbish being carried around in lorries, often well beyond council borders, and was a better site than the two existing facilities at Canford and Parley which were both in the Green Belt.

He told the Inspector that Portland also had the advantage of having space to fit carbon capture technology, which he said legislation was likely to demand in the future, while Parley and Canford were too small to take the equipment.

“The Portland scheme accords with the Development Plan and all the material considerations weigh in its favour,” he said.

The consultant said that many of the existing sub-regional waste plants, including Marchwood at Southampton, which Dorset uses, were likely to close in the near future because of changes in legislation. Others at Avonmouth and Portsmouth might also suffer the same fate leaving Portland with a gap in the market and able to take in suitable waste from neighbouring areas.

Dorset Council say the Portland site is unsuitable for the Powerfuel development and does not comply with its own strategies and some Government policies and would be detrimental to the immediate area and the wider Heritage Coast.