11/00713/F - Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk

In general the Construction and Decommissioning Environmental Management Plan
identifies the sources of disamenity and potential controls. More detail is required on the
specifics and the implementation of the controls. I request that is conditioned so that the
information is provided up front and that everything is agreed by the local planning authority.
BCKLWN Waste & Recycling Manager: The proposal fails to meet national policy and
regulation through the failure to follow the waste hierarchy which requires that waste is
reduced, reused or recycled prior to recovery. The size of the incinerator fails to meet
sustainability criteria due to its location on the extreme west of the County and therefore
does not support the proximity principle of dealing with waste where it arises. The scale and
the location of the facility will also draw in waste from across the borders of the county and
squeeze out recycling and other more sustainable forms of waste treatment in neighbouring
counties who plan to deal with their own waste. The supporting documentation is lacking in
many respects and of poor quality and significant additional work is required by the applicant
to prove statements made in support of this proposal.
There is evidence that the criteria for need for the incinerator are not met in terms of
Municipal Solid Waste because of falling waste levels, increased recycling opportunities and
recycling of food waste as a real opportunity for sustainable management of wastes.
BCKLWN Regeneration & Economic Development Manager: The section on Socio-
Economic Effects (page 25) of the Non-technical summary (NTS) refers to socio-economic
effects and identifies job creation (40 permanent operational and 200-300 construction jobs
over 32 months) as the main positive externality of the proposed development, although
paragraph 133 of the NTS (page 26) states that the development will bring a slight beneficial
effect as it is difficult to demonstrate what percentage of those jobs will be awarded to the
local workforce.
The King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Economic Strategy sets out the Objectives and Priorities
for delivering Sustainable Community Strategy vision of creating a thriving and growing
economy. The strategy particularly seeks to attract new investment and encourage
reinvestment by existing businesses whilst raising the qualifications and skills of the local
workforce.
The fact that the Power and Recycling Centre will create 40 new permanent jobs, albeit the
skill levels of these jobs are not known, is to be acknowledged as is the additional
expenditure in the local economy that should occur during the construction stage.
However the main employment estates in King’s Lynn, including the two major employment
development areas, are close to the application site and given the negative perceptions
associated with the proposed development there is concern that this development could
discourage investment decisions by both existing businesses and new business
investments. In particular, businesses operating in the food industry, which is an important
part of the local economy, may be deterred from investing in operations located in close
proximity of the application site.
Although difficult to quantify at the moment because of lack of evidence supplied with the
application, the loss of potential employment resulting from the negative perceptions
associated with the proposed development could be far greater than the small employment
benefits provided by it.
11/01064/CM Development Control Board
25 July 2011
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