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

PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
The application raises the following issues:-
� Principle of development and compliance with policy framework;
� Ability of the County Council to act impartially in the decision making process;
� Alternative Sites;
� Traffic and Transport;
� Air Quality & Impacts on Human Health;
� Landscape and Visual Impact;
� Terrestrial Ecology and Nature Conservation;
� Hydrology and Flood Risk;
� Socio-economic impact; and
� Amenity.
Principle of Development and Compliance with Policy
The starting point for determining a planning application is always against the provisions of
the Development Plan. The currently adopted development plan for waste provision is the
Norfolk Waste Local Plan adopted in 2000. The County is currently in the process of
consulting on the Norfolk Minerals and Waste Core Strategy and site specific allocations
however this plan will not be adopted until late this year, or more probably in 2012.
Planning Policy Statement 10 (PPS10) Planning for Sustainable Waste Management –
revised March 2011, makes it clear that Waste Local Planning Authorities should:
“in considering planning applications for waste management facilities before
development plans can be reviewed to reflect this PPS, have regard to the
policies in this PPS as material considerations which may supersede the policies
in their development plan.”
Whilst the County Council has produced a Waste Core Strategy the Inspector has yet to
confirm that it is ‘sound’. Indeed, the inquiry is to be re-opened on 15 th July to allow the
Borough Council to present evidence to the Inspector regarding serious doubts over whether
or not the document proposes a strategy that can coherently deal with the amount of waste
forecast. In other words, until such time as the Core Strategy and site allocation
Development Plan Document are adopted the application should be assessed against
PPS10 as the old Waste Local Plan policies are out of date.
PPS10 sets out “Key Planning Objectives” for all planning authorities. Those objectives
include an expression of the Proximity Principle: to “enable waste to be disposed of in one of
the nearest appropriate installations”.
The application represents a fundamental departure from this policy objective: it would place
the EfW plant, which is intended to serve the whole of Norfolk, in the north-west corner of
Norfolk. Norfolk is the fifth largest non-metropolitan county in England, with an area of 5,371
square kilometres with a comparatively poor road transport network across the county.
11/01064/CM Development Control Board
25 July 2011
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