DPP were instructed by Knapton Green Energy, a partnership between Tetragen UK, NCG Estates and Todds Waste Management, to secure planning permission for a Green Energy Facility (‘GEF’) adjacent to an existing landfill and waste management site at Knapton, North Yorkshire. The GEF, once operational, will accept 65,000 tonnes of non-recyclable local waste per annum and convert this through the use of advanced thermal treatment into 8.0 megawatts of green energy; enough to power 16,000 homes a year.

DPP prepared a pre-application package as well as requesting an EIA screening and scoping opinion from the Waste Management Authority (WMA). Upon confirmation from the WMA that the GEF constituted an EIA development, DPP prepared, with technical input from external consultants, an Environmental Impact Assessment to support the planning application.

Following submission of the planning application DPP prepared and submitted two Regulation 22 submissions following requests from the WMA for addition information. The second of these submissions were submitted following extensive negotiations with the WMA and proposed a number of revisions to the scheme in order to reduce the perceived harm on the surrounding landscape.

DPP successfully demonstrated that although the site lies in the open countryside, the GEF would maximise co-locational benefits and would move the waste up the waste hierarchy and therefore complied with national and emerging local policy.  Officers recommended the application for approval with members approving the application in December 2017.