On 17th January 2008 Suffolk County Council declared that
it is to offer its highways maintenance depot in Great Blakenham as
a potential site for dealing with the county's waste problem.
The site will be offered to companies interested in bidding to
build a residual waste facility in Suffolk.
Please find below a link to the full press release relating to the
announcement.
news release 17/01/08 (PDF,22.32kb)
What does your announcement mean?
Suffolk County Council has identified a site that it will offer
to tenderers who will bid to build a residual waste treatment
facility. By offering a site, we will encourage competition and
therefore secure a better price for the Suffolk Council tax payer.
It will level the playing field for contractors who may be
interested in bidding for the contract, but who don’t necessarily
have a suitable site of their own already in Suffolk.
We are not announcing the final site location, as this is not
yet known and will be determined through the procurement and
planning process.
Why have you chosen this site?
A list of sites was drawn up in accordance with the
Waste Local Plan and were assessed against a set of criteria
for their suitability. The criteria used were;
- Physical issues – is the site big enough, available and
suitable for construction?
- Location – does the site conform with the policies of the Waste
Local Plan?
- Environmental – what are the impacts on the environment?
- Acceptability – does the site have access to a good transport
infrastructure?
- Economic – what will be the cost of any required
infrastructure?
We found that the Suffolk County Council Depot at Great
Blakenham was a site that we could secure and offer to the
market.
What does the site look like at the moment?
Click on the link below to view pictures of the Great Blakenham
site as it currently looks.
The site Suffolk County Council are offering (PDF,
266kb)
I live near the site you will be offering to contractors. How
will I be affected?
At this stage we can not say where the final location for the
Residual Waste Treatment Facility will be. It will be the
procurement and planning process that will determine the eventual
location. The planning process ensures that there is extensive and
formal public consultation and you will have several opportunities
to influence the decision on the location as well as other aspects
of the planning application. The preferred bidder will undertake
pre planning consultation in the area it will wish to gain planning
permission.
Will the eventual final site definitely have an Energy from
Waste plant?
Not necessarily. Suffolk County Council needed to show a
preference for a technology in order to progress with its bid to
the Government for funding the project. After much research, we
have declared a preference for Energy from Waste technology, as we
feel it is a workable solution for Suffolk. However, we will keep
an open mind. If a bidder submits a proposal with an alternative
technology and this also works financially and environmentally, we
will consider it alongside all other bids.
When will the eventual residual waste treatment facility be up and
running?
It will not be operating until the end of 2014 at the
earliest.
Why are you telling us this information so early on?
Suffolk County Council are committed to conducting our work to
prepare for the future procurement of Suffolk’s Waste Disposal
Services in an open and transparent manner. It is true that the
process still has several years to go before the final facility is
up and running, however, it is important that people know that
opportunities will arise for them throughout the planning process
to have their say and be properly consulted.
What happens next?
This spring, contractors will be given the opportunity to tender
for this contract and this process will go on until the end of 2011
when the contract will be awarded.
How will I be kept informed of the progress in this
project?
- We will continue to post information and progress on these
webpages
- We will issue press releases
- We will continue to hold roadshows and events throughout the
County and we will have current information on the project. Suffolk
County Council posts all its event details on
www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk
- We have also drafted information on the project timeline to
illustrate the main times when formal public consultations will
take place. To access this information, click on the link
below
How can I have my say? (PDF, 20.96kb)
Background information relating to site selection
Below is the report which sets out the process the county
council went through before it selected the Suffolk County
Council's Highways Depot at Great Blakenham as a suitable site to
offer to contractors for a Residual Waste Treatment Facility.
The county council has made it's decision on the site it will offer
based on the report below.
Prior to releasing the report we consulted with all landowners of
the shortlisted sites to satisfy ourselves that releasing the
information did not compromise their commerical
interests.
We have published all the information on the sites where the
landowners were happy to have this released, and removed the
information where the relevant landowners have not given their
consent for this to be published.
Site Selection report (PDF,
207.47kb)