Power to the people

HOW the new plant in Royton could look

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

PLANS for a £100million state-of-the-art plant which will generate energy from waste have been submitted to Oldham Council.

The proposals, by applicants Woodhouse Properties, seek outline permission to develop a largely vacant and underused 6.41 hectare industrial site at Mossdown Road, Royton, into a waste energy plant capable of producing a maximum of 10 or 11 megawatts of electricity providing low-cost heat for surrounding businesses.

The electricity generated would also provide cheap power to local homes and industry and surplus power to the National Grid.

Figures from the Environmental Agency reported that in 2013, 1.5million tonnes of material to be incinerated was sent overseas.

The development of new waste to energy plants in the UK, such as the one proposed for Royton, would reduce the need to send waste to Europe and provide a variety of benefits, the application states.

These benefits include the reduction of waste going to landfill, the production of electricity and heat locally, reduction of carbon emissions, employment opportunities and economic benefits.

The application states: "The proposed development of land at Mossdown Road will provide employment and will contribute to the economic activity and productivity of the Borough and the region as a whole."

The land, which is bounded by industrial and warehouse developments to the west and south, with the Metrolink tramline to the east, is currently largely vacant with a small part of the site occupied by the Connell Group recycling plant and other semi-derelict industrial buildings.

The application documents, prepared by agent Chorlton Planning, states: "Its current appearance is of a degraded and barren landscape that has reached a point where a comprehensive development is necessary to remedy existing problem issues and to put the whole site to a beneficial use."

If the outline application is successful, land owner Connells would seek to sell the site to an operator, who would submit a further application dealing with the scale, layout, appearance and landscaping depending on the individual requirements.

Ian Murray, Consultant Technical Advisor to the Connell Group, said: "The proposed Waste to Energy Plant at Mossdown Road Royton is an exciting prospect for the Borough, situated on an existing industrial estate with good motorway access it will bring about a potential £100m private sector investment to the Borough.

"Construction will take about two years with around 200 builders on site.

"The plant, when operational, will employ about 50 skilled workers and produce about £1m in business rates per annum by 2020 for Oldham Council to spend on local services.

"The state of the art plant will also generate a substantial amount of heat which will be provided free of charge to industries adjacent to the site. The plant is designed to generate 10 mega watts a year of electricity to the national grid.

"Environmentally this plant will substantially reduce the carbon footprint produced by this Greater Manchester waste which is presently sent to Scandinavia to be incinerated."

At maximum operation the plant is expected to generate over 4,600 heavy vehicle movements per year (15 per day over a 300-day operating year), which, the application states, is comparable to vehicles using the current recycling site.

The outline application seeks to retain and remodel the deposited material on site to make it suitable for built development, provide a development consisting of industry, office and warehouse uses, including the waste to energy plant.

The landscape would also be developed in a comprehensive way, including addressing ecology issues, enhancing the natural habitat and providing improved access to the site.

The application states that the development will be visible to people living and working on the land to the east and using footpaths, as well as people using the tramline.

It continues: "The development itself will be of a high quality and significantly improve the view from the higher countryside land to the east and south.

"Particular care will be taken to ensure that the design of the development in this part of the site is attractive and appropriate to the area."

The expansion of waste recycling is already underway in the UK and Europe with a new site in Oldham expected to add to this programme.

A similar Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility in Leeds uses state-of-the-art technology and engineering to recover recyclable materials and energy from the city's black bin waste.

When all the recyclables have been removed the remaining waste is burnt in carefully controlled conditions with the heat from the combustion process is used to turn water into steam.

The steam powers a turbine to generate around 13MW of electricity for export to the National Grid, is enough to power in the region of 22,000 homes.