Borough faces legal action over planning permission for incinerator

A London borough has received a letter before claim threatening legal action over its decision to grant planning permission for an energy recovery facility.

Sutton Council granted permission earlier this month (14 March) for the South London Energy Recovery Facility to be located at Beddington Farmlands, Sutton.

The facility will replace the current landfill site and serve Sutton, Croydon, Kingston and Merton. Most of the existing site will be turned into an 86-hectare country park with some public access.

The claimant, Shasha Khan, lives two miles from the site of the proposed incinerator with his wife and two-year-old daughter. Khan is treasurer of the Thornton Health Recreation Ground and co-ordinator of the local Green Party.

He is being represented by law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn and 39 Essex Street barrister Justine Thornton.

The grounds of challenge are:

  • The requirement to show that there are “very special circumstances” why development of Metropolitan Open Land should go ahead, had not been met.
  • The claimant, his family, and other local residents have a substantive legitimate expectation that waste use at the site will cease in 2023, and that it will then be used as part of the Beddington Country Park, for leisure, and for bird-watching etc. The council had consistently promised this in statements during the past decade, as had the developer.
  • There was a failure to take into account relevant considerations – the environmental effect of a combined heat and power pipeline.
  • The council had fettered its discretion. It had appeared to have surrendered independent judgment about the planning application to, in effect, the terms of the waste contract between Viridor and the South London Waste Partnership/the council, and therefore approached the decision-making process with a closed mind.
  • The planning application was assessed against the incorrect policy.

Sue Willman of Deighton Pierce Glynn said: “We believe Sutton has acted unlawfully. They have failed to demonstrate the very special circumstances needed to build an incinerator on Metropolitan Open Land which is the London equivalent of Greenbelt.

“Mass burn incineration is an outdated and unsustainable technology and there are major questions about its effect on people’s health. This case is just one of many which local people are bringing across the UK to stop an army of waste incinerators being built when councils should be focused on cleaner renewable energy and recycling."

A Sutton Council spokesman said: "We are confident that the planning process has been followed correctly and that our decision is sound. We are currently seeking advice from our lawyers."