Portland incinerator proposal recommended for refusal

Dorset Council’s Strategic and Technical Planning Committee will consider the proposal by developer Powerfuel at a public meeting on March 24.

But due to concerns over sustainability, impact upon the UNESCO World Heritage coastline and historic sites, the council’s case officer has recommended that the planning application is refused.

A report to the committee highlights that the proposed site at Portland Port is not allocated in the council’s waste plan, and fails to demonstrate that it would provide sufficient advantages over the allocated sites.

According to the report the plant would be an ‘unsustainable’ form of waste management due to the distance to and from waste sources, and adverse impact upon landscape and heritage features.

The report adds that the size and scale of the facility would have a ‘significant adverse effect’ on the landscape, impacting upon views of the ‘iconic’ Isle of Portland within the setting of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site.

Other concerns include a ‘detrimental’ impact upon listed buildings, scheduled monuments and a conservation area: Historic England has advised that some of these are ‘of the very highest significance’ and that considerable harm would occur.

First unveiled in 2019, the plant was initially proclaimed as being a carbon-friendly solution to Dorset’s waste - although it later transpired waste would also be brought in from other areas.

More recently, the developer has focused on benefits to Portland Port, with the port having spoken in support of the plant, which would provide shore power to cruise ships.

Now, in a scathing response to the planning officer’s report, Powerfuel director Giles Frampton has accused the case officer of making “errors, misrepresentations and omissions.”

Mr Frampton said: “We are disappointed with the Planning Officer’s recommendation.  This project is clearly in line with local and national policy, is badly needed to solve Dorset’s waste issue and will ensure shore power can be provided to Portland Port, safeguarding the cruise business that contributed £8m to the Dorset economy in 2021.  

“Since August 2022, new technical input on Landscape and Heritage has been sought, the key areas that are now used to justify the refusal recommendation.  The Report is highly selective in its reporting, ignoring previous officer input that did not raise concerns on these areas and therefore did not support the targeted conclusion to refuse.  The are a number of other serious errors, misrepresentations and omissions with the report. 

“We will be explaining this in detail at committee and we trust that Committee Members will be capable of taking a balanced, independent and rational view that is based on facts and complete information when they consider the application.”