Ford incinerator plans given solid thumbs down by Arun

Plans for an energy recovery facility in Ford Road – complete with an 85metre-high chimney – were submitted to West Sussex County Council by Grundon Waste Management and Viridor.

But members of the district council’s development control committee made it clear that they would call on the government to step in if those plans were approved.

At a meeting on Wednesday (September 2), Jacky Pendleton (Con, Middleton-on-Sea) called the application ‘absolutely ridiculous’.

She raised a number of strong concerns about the noise from the site, the lighting and how it would affect such a rural community, the smell and emissions coming from the facility, the damage it would cause to the landscape, and the traffic it would generate.

A report to the meeting said HGVs would go to and from the site more than 200 times a day.

These concerns were shared by planning officers who laid out nine reasons to object to the plans.

As well as the points raised by Mrs Pendleton, officers said the need for such a facility had not been demonstrated – plans for a similar facility in Horsham were approved on appeal earlier this year.

They felt the design was not of a high quality and didn’t allow for the new homes planned for the area, and not enough space had been set aside to allow for landscaping.

Mrs Pendleton also predicted that plans to bury miles of cable leading from the site would be hugely expensive and they would wind up being strung overhead instead – another blot on the landscape.

Ricky Bower (Con, East Preston) said: “If this were to go through, this planning application would actually drive a coach-and-four through our Local Plan.”

The Local Plan allows for 1,500 homes to be built in Ford by 2031.

But Mr Bower firmly believed that building an incinerator would scupper those plans because ‘no one will want to build next to this if it is as big as is proposed’.

He also said the district’s transport study would have to be looked at again as it didn’t allow for such a development.

Members agreed with Mr Bower’s suggestion that, if West Sussex County Council does approve the plans, they would contact the Secretary of State and ask him to call in the decision and open an inquiry.

Permission for a much smaller facility was granted on the same site back in 2015.

Last week, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb said: “I understand and share my constituents’ serious concerns about the size of the proposed energy from waste facility, which will be nearly twice the size of the facility set out in the previously consented planning application.

“This will spoil Arun’s beautiful landscape and risk putting off visitors from enjoying the local area.

“The need for housing in the local area greatly outweighs the need for a larger energy from waste facility and I have, therefore, written to the chief executive of West Sussex County Council, Ms Becky Shaw, to seek reassurances for my constituents that if a new facility is built, it will remain in its current consented form.”

But a spokesperson for applicant Ford Energy from Waste Limited said: “West Sussex has an unsustainable waste management gap that needs to be addressed, as waste is currently being transported to landfill outside of the county, and even exported to Europe for disposal.

“Our site at Ford is recognised by West Sussex County Council as a strategic waste site that can play a vital part in addressing the county’s existing waste management needs, as well as the needs of any new communities that are created in the county.

“We do also appreciate the need for new housing and there are many examples of energy-from-waste facilities being located alongside housing throughout the UK.

“We’re therefore very confident that the proposed housing development can co-exist alongside our facility at Ford, as well as alongside all the other waste facilities that are already operating in the immediate area.

“The recent public consultation on our planning application has now closed and we’d like to thank everybody that took part. We’re now considering all of the feedback submitted by local people, including these concerns raised by Mr Gibb and Arun District Council, and we will be working hard to ensure our development takes full account of those comments.”

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