Consents for new landfill void fall to an all-time low

08 April, 2014

Planning consents granted for new waste facilities in 2013

BDS confirms less than 10% of planning consents granted in 2013 for waste facilities related to landfill

THESE are some of the conclusions of an analysis of planning consents in the waste industry, undertaken by industry marketing consultancy firm BDS Marketing Research Ltd. Most of these permissions related to extensions of time to operate the landfill site, rather than additional void space.

'Virtually all the landfill permissions that we picked up last year related to inert sites,’ commented Julian Clapp, principal consultant at BDS after publication of the analysis.

‘Very few were for sites taking municipal waste. In total, additional void space granted in 2013 at all landfill sites amounted to just 6 million tonnes of waste. Ongoing increases in the landfill tax are seeing the industry divert tonnages away from landfill and toward a wide range of other treatment processes.’

BDS picked up a wide range of both planning applications and consents for waste management facilities. Nearly one in four consents monitored by the consultancy related to anerobic digestion plants. The next most common permissions related to transfer stations and recycling facilities. In total, BDS picked up nearly 700 applications and consents for waste facilities during 2013.

The industry has been fairly successful in obtaining planning consents for new facilities or extensions to existing sites. BDS found that around 60% of applications were successful last year. A further 20% remain outstanding. The remainder were refused, withdrawn or are the subject of a scoping or screening application.

Most applications were decided within six months. However, occasionally planning proposals can take more than a year to be decided. In one case, it took over four years for an application for an MBT plant to be granted, after an appeal was turned down and a public inquiry took place. BDS has also found other occasions where a relatively small scheme has taken more than a year to be resolved.

For further details about the analysis, contact BDS Marketing.