The Government today approved plans for a 95-megawatt power plant, to be built at Ince in Cheshire, that will generate energy from about 600,000 tonnes of waste each year.

The waste, which would have otherwise gone to landfill, will instead be used to generate electricity to power a new Resource Recovery Park. Excess electricity will also be exported to the National Grid.

The approval follows a public inquiry held into both the power plant and the Resource Recovery Park, which recommended that consent should be granted for the construction and operation of the plant and also that  planning permission be given for the Resource Recovery Park.

“We need to increase our use of renewable energy and to find solutions to the UK’s waste problem,” said Energy and Climate Change Minister Lord Hunt. “This power plant will convert over half a million tonnes of waste each year into energy.”

He added, “I am satisfied that the mitigation measures to be put in place will protect the amenity of local villages.”

The separate planning permission for the Resource Recovery Park was also given today by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham.

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