A Community Waiting – Consett’s Proposed Energy From Waste Facility

In November 2020 Project Genesis Ltd. submitted a proposal to Durham County Council to build an energy from waste facility on Hownsgill Industrial Estate in Consett, County Durham, the very site of which was given to the residents of Consett in the wake of the Consett Steelworks closure for the purpose of regeneration.

The proposal entailed plans to build a 50m chimney stack and aimed to process up to 60,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste per year taken from a 10-mile radius of the facility. The site aims to assist waste management in County Durham and to benefit the towns net zero waste objectives. The site also proposes to power homes approximately 8,000 homes as well as a solar farm.

From the beginning, the residents of Consett have shown concern for this incinerator proposal. In this, the Say No to The Consett incinerator Campaign was formed to give the residents of Consett a voice – to say this isn’t what they want.

While from the outset the project seems positive for the community, speaking with the Consett residents, as well as professionals the uncertainties within the proposal begin to show.

Student Niamh McDonald talks us through the location concerns for the proposal.

Tom Curtis Environmental Engineer Lecturer at Newcastle University questions the planning proposal stating ‘it is curious that the proposal is using waste from a 10-mile radius of the facility, Consett is a rural town, I highly doubt 60,000 tonnes of waste can come from this radius in a year’ in addition to this he says ‘there won’t be large job opportunities here, waste incinerators do not typically employ more than 6 people per facility’.

These are some of the very same concerns that the Residents of Consett have, as student Niamh McDonald highlights ‘it is very clear the waste will be brought in from overseas, Consett isn’t far from the port of Blyth and we fear that this is what the facility will be used for – imported rather than local waste.’

Christine Thomas highlights ‘ As a post-industrial town, we already have contaminated land that has taken over 40 years to regenerate, we don’t want that again’

Due to the immense success of the Say No to Consett Incinerator Campaign with over 4,000 objection signatures and a Facebook group with over 6,500 members, on the 7^th of September 2021 Durham County Council planning committee unanimously refused the incinerator planning application, but Project Genesis Ltd. appealed this decision.

Head of the Say No to Consett Incinerator Campaign Christine Thomas explains the steps the campaign has taken, and what happened leading up to the appeal.

Christine Thomas explains ‘If they are so concerned about sustainable energy for the town, why don’t they just have the solar farm, they’ve had planning permission for that since 2019’.

Michael Twiss, Consett Resident says ‘This incinerator is not for any noble ecological cause it is purely for a very small few to make substantial profits at the expense of Consett people’.

Both Cllr Alex Watson and Project Genesis Ltd. have been contacted to have their say on the matter but have refused to comment.

For the time being the Consett community can but wait – until the 15^th of March where a decision will be made by the Secretary of State Michael Gove. A lot hangs in the balance for the residents of Consett. If the proposal goes ahead it brings up a scary prospect for the community – that they have not been heard.