Wisbech incinerator boss vows to be 'good neighbour' after £300 million waste-to-energy facility gets green light

The boss of the company behind a £300 million waste-to-energy incinerator in Wisbech has vowed to be a ‘good neighbour’ as work gets under way to build the high tech facility.

Paul Carey, managing director of MVV, which has just secured planning approval for the large incinerator on the Algores Industrial Estate, said one of the first actions would be to recruit a community liaison manager as the first point of contact for nearby residents with the company.

Residents and councillors have spent months campaigning to stop the planned facility, which will be capable of generating more than 50 megawatts of electricity, from becoming a reality.

But the scale and impact of the development meant the plans were considered by the Planning Inspectorate instead of the local authority and the final approval was granted yesterday (February 20) by the Secretary of State Energy Security and Net Zero Clare Coutinho MP.

Mr Carey said: "I understand the local reaction to our proposals but I am happy to meet people and to talk to people and to go on talking to people about our plans and help them to understand a bit better about what it is that we do.

"We are looking to recruit a community liaison manager this year who will be our first point of contact with residents.

"We will also set up an incinerator liaison committee that will include local representatives.

"We want to assure the local community that we will be a good neighbour as we build and operate the new facility, as we have already demonstrated at our facilities in Plymouth and Dundee.”

Mr Carey said that construction was expected to start in 2025 with completion likely to be three years away.

He said: “There is lots of other work to do. There are outline plans that are part of the application which need to be turned into detail and which we need to have in place before construction starts. These will need approval from Cambridgeshire County Council.”

The incinerator, which will take about 625,000 tonnes a year of household and commercial waste that cannot be recycled and turn it into energy, is expected to create 700 jobs during construction and 42 jobs when the incinerator is completed.