Padeswood cement site gets go-ahead for £4m solid fuel recovery facility

Approval has been given for the development of a new solid fuel recovery (SFR) facility at a Flintshire cement works.

Flintshire Council’s planning committee granted permission for the new facilities at Hanson UK’s Padeswood side, which represents a £4m investment and will safeguard 177 jobs.

The development will be within the existing cement works, in an area currently used to park trailers with an internal access road, and an electricity substation using Solid Recovered Fuel as an alternative fuel source.

SRF is a type of fuel produced from the mechanical and biological treatment of waste materials. It is a saleable product that can be purchased on the market and used as a fuel source.

The development will refine SRF to make it suitable for use in the main burner, with smaller particulate being used in the main burner and larger particulate either used in the existing SRF burner or sold back to the market.

Waste materials used to produce SRF can include non-recyclable plastics, paper, wood, and other materials that would otherwise be sent to landfill or incinerated.

Buckley Bistre East Cllr Richard Jones (Ind) said he was pleased to see the company making moves towards ditching the use of coal.

But Buckley Mountain Cllr Carol Ellis (non-aligned) and Buckley Bistre West Cllr Dan Rose (Lab) both asked about emissions, while a number of councillors asked about the impact of more vehicle movements to and from the site.

Council officers moved to reassure members that there would be no detrimental impact to the highways and that the application represented a move to using more environmentally friendly fuel.

Planning officer Dan McVey said. “Those vehicles will be delivering materials to the site from Lancashire.

“In terms of how much the carbon the proposal would reduce, this is a small piece in what hopefully will be a much bigger picture to achieve what they need to achieve to meet their (carbon reduction) commitments by 2050.

A new air monitoring quality system has been installed at a nearby bowling green, and monthly monitoring is happening on the site.

Highways officer Sue Thomas said there would be 16 vehicle movements to and from the site in a 24 hour period, with the route likely via the A55 and Dobshill.

Planning chief Andy Roberts added that the extra vehicle movements represented only a five per cent increase in terms of additional movement to location.

The planning committee voted in favour of granting permission for the development.

By Rory Sheehan – Local Democracy Reporter (more here).