Development projects

Overview of the Project

The proposed Energy-from-Waste (EfW) Facility will be fuelled by residual waste (i.e. waste that remains after recycling and composting) by treating 585,000 tonnnes per annum of both municipal (household) and commercial and industrial waste (business) into electricity. The EfW Facility is expected to export about 55 megawatts, this is enough to serve the needs of 82,500 homes and is equivilent to the housing energy needs of Bedford and the Marston Vale (the latter includes: Stewartby, Marston Moretaine, Houghton Conquest, Lidlington, Ampthill, Wootton and The Wixams). Importantly, 50% of the electricity recovered from this treatment process is classed as renewable. The Facility will also be able to deliver heat in the form of a Combined Heat and Power. The post-treatment Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) is dedicated to the management of the incinerator bottom ash (IBA) produced by the EfW Facility. It will separate metals from the IBA which will be recycled, with the remaining IBA used as a secondary aggregate for construction projects.

In total, the RRF will recover value from 96% of the residual waste brought, responding to the renewable energy supply and waste treatment capacity promoted in national and local planning policy.

As well as the EfW Facility, the application to the IPC also seeks development consent for associated developments which are included in the application. These are as follows:

  1. The post-treatment MRF;
  2. The provision of a drainage channel on a realignment in substitution for a drainage channel that would otherwise be provided in Rookery South Pit by the Low Level Restoration Scheme (LLRS);
  3. The extension of the attenuation pond to be constructed in Rookery South Pit by the LLRS;
  4. An access road connecting the RRF to Green Lane in Stewartby;
  5. An underground connection to the electricity grid allowing the export and import of electrical power;
  6. Works for the creation of an upgraded site access and new junction on Green Lane and at the internal entrance to the Marston Vale Millennium Park;
  7. Improvements to Green Lane between its junction with footpath 4 and Stewartby Lake, including footway improvements; and
  8. An improvement to the Green Lane level crossing, including the installation of full automatic barriers.

Contextual Site