By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
A 25-year operation to dig up millions of tonnes of power station ash buried near a nature reserve has been given approval.
The waste product from Cottam Power station was buried near the village of Lound, Bassetlaw, but is now a valuable material in producing low-carbon cement.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s planning committee held a three-hour debate on the application on Tuesday (September 17) that ended when the chair used his tie-breaking vote.
Some residents told the committee the project would create jobs, while others feared it would harm the nearly Idle Valley Nature Reserve and air quality by releasing dust.
The application, which has been named the ‘Retford Circular Economy Project’ was designed by Lound Hive Ltd.
Six million tonnes of pulverised fuel ash (PFA) were buried at the former quarry near Lound between the 1970s and 1990s, and were then covered over.
The 113-hectare site will be excavated one hectare at a time, processing 300,000 tonnes of ash on site which will then be taken away by HGVs.
The applicant estimates this ash will prevent the release of five million tonnes of carbon by the construction industry.
The area would then be restored to a green space once again.
The ‘No Way PFA’ campaign group played an emotive video to councillors at the meeting, warning of “25 years of creeping industrialisation in the midst of an expensively-restored natural landscape”.
Jake Barnes-Gott, the project director from Lound Hive Ltd, told the committee: “We don’t want to wipe out nature, we want to progressively restore the area and reduce millions of tonnes of carbon.”
Bassetlaw Councillor Tracey Taylor (Con) asked the committee to put off the decision and gather more information.
“There are genuine fears over the health and wellbeing of residents,” she said.
“Consider the cost on the environment, and don’t discount it just because it’s recycling.”
Councillor Philip Owen (Con) claimed it would “ruin the area for negligible gain”, and said he didn’t have confidence the dust would be controlled.
“This is a bizarre situation where after years of dumping material there, we’ve restored it to a place the general public enjoy – now we want to dig up and go back to square one.”
Councillor Paul Henshaw (Lab) said he hoped the area would be properly restored after work was completed.
“In Mansfield we have several beautiful areas which were once industrial blights on the landscape,” he told the committee.
“The decision we have is whether to temporarily destroy nature in order to enhance it in the future. If the conditions are followed, I think we can mitigate the problems.”
The vote was tied five-to-five, with chair Councillor Mike Quigley (Con) casting the deciding vote.
A liaison group will be set up for local residents to meet with the developers at least twice a year.
PFA is a limited resource, as Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station – the UK’s last coal power station which can produce it – is shutting down later this month.
