• Planning Portal
• Environment Agency
• Peterborough Environment City Trust
• Natural England
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee
• East of England Development Agency

A guide to the process

The application by Peterborough Renewable Energy Limited for a Sustainable Resource Recycling Facility.

• The application to the Secretary of State for Energy, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was registered on 20 May 2005 by Peterborough City Council. The application is for consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, and if granted this constitutes a DEEMED PLANNING PERMISSION under Section 90 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
• Neighbour notification has taken place, with a press advert, site notice, and over 5,000 letters of notification sent to residents within a five kilometre radius around the site.  Residents were originally given twenty-one days to respond.  However,  ALL comments were considered and reported to the Council, up to the day before the meeting at which the Council makes it decision whether to object or not.
• Peterborough City Council is a consultee to the Secretary of State for Energy through the Department of BERR. The Council must, by law, respond within four months,  setting out whether as local planning authority, it objects to the development, or not.  Representations were made to the Secretary of State in January 2006.
• The application consists of a Planning Statement (which addresses need, and planning policy issues), and an Environmental Statement (which assesses the impact on different characteristics of the environment, of the development).
• The application documents are available for inspection at Bridge House and the Main Library, and can be viewed on the Peterborough City Council website.
• Any new or additional information will be re-publicised, made available for public inspection, and considered again by consultees and officers of the Council.
• The application will be considered in respect of policy - national, regional and local - concerning planning for waste, as well as in respect of energy.
• A Public Inquiry would be triggered by an objection to the Department of BERR from Natural England, the Environment Agency, or the Council.
• The Environment Agency has granted a Permit for the operation of the facility, under the Integrated Pollution and Control Regulations.
• The decision whether to grant consent, and a deemed planning permission, will be taken by the Secretary of State for Energy. However, as the Council has raised objections to the proposal the Secretary of State intends to hold an Inquiry.
• The Public Inquiry was due to be held in September 2007 but was deferred as the applicant indicated that changes were to be made to the proposed development to address the objections raised by the Council.
• The Secretary of State has concluded that the proposed changes are such that a new application must be submitted.
• The revised application is likely to be submitted to the Secretary of State in Spring 2008.
• The revised application will be dealt with in the same way as the previous proposal as set out above.