RESIDENTS are being invited to have the final say on whether a permit is granted for a £72million incinerator in Bridgwater.

Bridgwater Resource Recovery Ltd gained planning permission from Somerset County Council (SCC) in 2015 to build an incinerator in the Showground Business Park. 

Construction started in 2019 on the facility, which is set to process approximately 100,000 tonnes of 'commercial and municipal derived fuel' per year. 

READ MORE: Large new incinerator being built in Bridgwater

The new facility, being funded by Equitix and Iona Capital, will employ up to 25 full time operational staff.

Contractor STC Power, a specialist in thermal energy plants, will deliver the project, while Pinnacle Power has been appointed as the ‘operations and maintenance contractor.

The waste itself will be supplied by a firm called Geminor, who are a leading exporter and supplier of refuse derived fuel, known as RDF.
Geminor has signed up to a long-term waste supply contract.

Bridgwater Resource Recovery Ltd has now applied to the Environment Agency for an environmental permit so it can burn non-hazardous waste.

The agency has a duty to control certain activities which could harm the environment or human health. 

An environmental permit sets the conditions which Bridgwater Resource Recovery Ltd must meet when operating the installation.

More than 30 comments were received in response to the agency’s first consultation on this permit back in December 2020. 

The feedback has been taken into consideration and the Environment Agency are ‘minded to’ grant the permit. It will make the final decision following this second consultation.

The draft decision document explains the agency’s thought process and how it has taken on board the comments it received in the first consultation. 

The draft permit outlines the conditions the operator would have to meet.

There is now the opportunity to view the draft permit and decision document and send your comments to the agency, so that they can be considered before it makes a final decision.

The draft permit and decision document can be viewed at consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/psc/ta66aj-bridgwater-resource-recovery-ltd/ or by emailing pscpublicresponse@environment-agency.gov.uk.

You should quote application number EPR/UP3708SB/A001 in any correspondence. 

The deadline to send your comments is midnight on July 7, 2021, and the Environment Agency will then review all comments before making its final decision on whether or not to grant a permit.