In October 2016, Hertfordshire County Council agreed in principle a proposal by Veolia to construct an energy recovery facility on Ratty's Lane, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. The facility would have had the potential to power 70,000 homes from the incineration of waste, treating 320,000 tonnes of waste each year at the same time.
The application was 'called-in' by the former Secretary of State for Homes, Communities and Local Government James Brokenshire due to concerns about the size of the plant and potential traffic issues it could cause.
Mr Brokenshire had agreed that there was a pressing need for such a facility and there was no obvious alternative site on which to build the facility in the area. However, there were serious concerns about road infrastructure. Heavy Goods vehicles (HGVs) would be required to pass along Ratty's Lane even though some parts of the road are too narrow for a lorry to safely pass a cyclist or pedestrian.
Such concerns carry obvious "substantial weight against the proposal". The inspector looking into the proposal said that the concerns over the free flow of traffic were "not ideal", but Mr Brokenshire believed the conditions to be unacceptable.
The Secretary of State also raised concerns about the plans for the facility itself, giving considerable weight in his decision to the negative landscape and visual impacts of the proposal and the fact those impacts were in conflict with the development plan, emerging plan policies, policies in the Epping Forest Local Plan, policies in the Lee Valley Park Plan and also the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
After careful consideration, Mr Brokenshire, in one of his last acts as Secretary of State under Theresa May's government, rejected the plans.
