Riverside Energy Park Planning Statement VOLUME NUMBER: PLANNING INSPECTORATE REFERENCE NUMBER: EN010093 DOCUMENT REFERENCE: 07 7.1 November 2018 Revision 0 APFP Regulation 5(2)(q) Planning Act 2008 | Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 Planning Statement Riverside Energy Park Contents 1 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 overview of the Proposed Development and DCO Application ..................................... 1 1.2 The Need for New Energy and Waste Infrastructure .................................................... 3 1.3 Planning Assessment .................................................................................................... 4 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 6 2.1 Purpose and Scope of the Planning Statement ............................................................ 6 2.2 The Applicant and Study Team ..................................................................................... 7 2.3 Requirement for Development Consent and EIA .......................................................... 8 2.4 The Development Consent Order Process ................................................................... 9 2.5 Other Application Documents and Plans ...................................................................... 9 2.6 Requirement for other Consents ................................................................................. 12 3 Proposed Development Summary ........................................................................................... 15 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 15 3.2 Application Site ............................................................................................................ 15 3.3 The Application Site and Surrounding Areas .............................................................. 15 3.4 Project Description ...................................................................................................... 17 3.5 Proposed Development Stages ................................................................................... 19 3.6 The Case for the Proposed Development ................................................................... 24 4 Legislative and Policy Framework .......................................................................................... 26 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 26 4.2 Legislation and Planning Policy ................................................................................... 26 4.3 National Planning Policy .............................................................................................. 30 4.4 Other National Planning Policy .................................................................................... 46 4.5 Regional Planning Policy Context ............................................................................... 47 4.6 Local Planning Policy Context ..................................................................................... 49 4.7 Planning Considerations in Neighbouring Boroughs................................................... 51 5 Planning Assessment ............................................................................................................... 52 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 52 5.2 The Need for New Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects ................................ 52 5.3 Assessment Against NPS EN-1 and NPS-EN5 Principles .......................................... 58 5.4 Waste and Residue Management, Odour, Steam and Insect Infestation ................... 71 5.5 Transport ..................................................................................................................... 73 5.6 Air quality and Emissions ............................................................................................ 75 5.7 Hydrology and Water Resources ................................................................................ 78 5.8 Flood Risk .................................................................................................................... 79 5.9 Noise and Vibration ..................................................................................................... 82 5.10 Biodiversity and Geological Conservation ................................................................... 83 5.11 Townscape and Visual Impact .................................................................................... 87 iii Planning Statement Riverside Energy Park 5.12 Historic Environment ................................................................................................... 90 5.13 Socio-economic Impact ............................................................................................... 92 5.14 Civil and military aviation and defence interests ......................................................... 96 5.15 Land Use Including Open Space & Green Belt ........................................................... 96 5.16 Other Important and Relevant Considerations ............................................................ 99 6 Planning Balance and Conclusions ...................................................................................... 102 6.1 Statutory requirements .............................................................................................. 102 6.2 Benefits ...................................................................................................................... 103 6.3 Other Effects and Mitigation ...................................................................................... 104 6.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 106 References ................................................................................................................................... 107 Figures Figure 3.1 Indicative construction and commissioning programme ..................................................... 19 Figure 4.1 Hierarchy of adopted policy documents for decision making ............................................... 30 Figure 4.2 REP site and London Plan OAs ........................................................................................... 49 Figure 5.1 CCC 2018 Report Figure 7.1 ............................................................................................... 54 Tables Table 2.1 List of DCO Application Documents ........................................................................................ 9 Table 4.1 Legislation and policies relevant to the Proposed Development .......................................... 27 Table 4.2 NPS EN-1 Assessment Principles ......................................................................................... 32 Table 4.3 NPS EN-1 generic impacts .................................................................................................... 35 Table 4.4 NPS EN-3 Assessment Principles ......................................................................................... 43 Table 4.5 NPS EN-5 Assessment Principles ......................................................................................... 45 Table 5.1 Assessment against NPS EN-1 and NPS-EN5 principles .................................................... 59 Appendices Appendix A Planning Policy Context Appendix B Planning Policy Compliance Checklist Appendix C Minerals Assessment iv Planning Statement Riverside Energy Park v Planning Statement Riverside Energy Park 1 Executive Summary 1.1 Overview of the Proposed Development and DCO Application Cory Environmental Holdings Limited (trading as Cory Riverside Energy) (Cory or the Applicant) is applying to the Secretary of State (SoS) under the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) for powers to construct, operate and maintain an integrated Energy Park, to be known as Riverside Energy Park (REP). The principal elements of REP comprise complementary energy generating development (with energy from waste) being the largest component) and an associated Electrical Connection (together referred to as the ‘Proposed Development’). REP is proposed on land immediately adjacent to Cory’s existing Riverside Resource Recovery Facility (RRRF) located at Belvedere within the London Borough of Bexley (LBB) and would complement the operation of the existing facility as well as making greater use of existing river-based infrastructure in London. It would comprise an integrated range of technologies including: energy from waste (or waste energy recovery), an Anaerobic Digestion facility for food and green waste, solar panels and battery storage. Additionally, REP would include on site infrastructure to provide the potential for heat to be supplied to local housing and businesses. Key REP Policy Themes Key policy themes at the core of REP and the DCO submission are: Riverside Energy Park: Key REP Policy Themes Generating reliable low carbon/renewable energy for London and UK Bridging the infrastructure gap in London and the South East Replacing landfill - not recycling – and moving