The scheme, which will be brought forward by waste management company Viridor, will comprise an energy recovery facility (ERF) and two combined heat and power pipelines. The facility will turn 275,000 tonnes of residual non-hazardous waste into 26 megawatts of sustainable energy each year.
Viridor has entered a 25 year waste disposal contract with the South London Waste Partnership which comprises the London boroughs of Croydon, Merton, Kingston and Sutton.
The Council's executive head of planning and transportation said in the committee report (98-page / 562KB PDF) that the development would be contrary to policies in the London Plan and in the Council's Core Strategy which seek to protect the open character of the proposed Wandle Valley Regional Park and wider MOL.
However, the report said that there were "very special circumstances" which outweighed the policy conflict and justified the inappropriate development on MOL.
These circumstances included the "urgent need to divert waste from landfill in line with European directives and UK Government targets, the existing use of the land for waste management in line with development plan policy and the identification of local markets for heat," the report said.
The report also said that, although the proposals would "perpetuate waste management on this site in the long term", which was contrary to community expectation, the proposals were not contrary to policies in the South London Waste Plan, which expressly safeguarded the site for continued waste management use.
The planning permission will be subject to completion of a section 106 agreement between the Council and Viridor under which Viridor will commit to the closure of the landfill by the end of 2017. Viridor will also be required to make financial contributions to provide funding for local community projects through a community fund.
"I'm very proud of Sutton's reputation as a green borough so I'm especially pleased we have found an affordable and environmentally sustainable way of treating domestic waste," said the Council's deputy leader Colin Hall. "This decision, along with our long term investment in recycling, means we can stop burying rubbish in the ground, dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions and bring forward work on the Wandle Valley Regional Park.".
"All of the credible scientific evidence shows that modern ERFs are safe and our technical advisers have been forensically examining Viridor's proposal for months. This ERF means we can reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, manage our waste locally and unlock millions of pounds of investment for the area," Hall said.
