Plans to build a pair of carbon capture plants on a nature reserve in Belvedere have caused controversy, with a petition stated against them earlier this year.
News Shopper wildlife columnist Eric Brown has stated his opposition to the plans for Crossness Nature Reserve, which would see it reduced in size.
In response to that, project director Richard Wilkinson has explained how he thinks the plans are essential to decarbonising Bexley's waste and tackling the climate emergency.
At Cory, we are proud to provide a vital service to London by diverting non-recyclable waste away from landfill and generating baseload electricity and construction materials as byproducts. We have been operating our Riverside energy from waste (EfW) facility in Bexley since 2012, and work hard to ensure that the local community shares in the success of our business. The construction of Riverside 2, our second EfW facility, is well underway, which will allow us to divert even more waste from landfill each year.
We have achieved a lot in 12 years. However, there is another pressing issue facing our business and the rest of the UK: the global climate emergency. We are working to decarbonise our business as soon as possible, while also helping Bexley, London and the wider UK reach their net zero targets.
We already use renewable electricity to power our sites, use renewable diesel in our river operations and Waste Transfer Stations and are continually working to maximise energy efficiency. But there is a lot more we need to do.
Our next target is to decarbonise the emissions caused by the management of London’s waste through our EfW facilities. Our proposed carbon capture project would allow us to capture some 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 each year from the waste management process, which would be safely stored under the North Sea for thousands of years. This represents a significant proportion of London’s overall carbon footprint, and will provide a vital contribution to the city’s ambitious net zero targets.
Our site in Belvedere is tightly constrained on all sides by dense industrial development, the River Thames, the Crossness Nature Reserve and other designations, including Metropolitan Open Land. The carbon capture facility we want to build will mostly use land allocated for industrial development on the west side of Norman Road, although we do need to use a small amount of land within the Crossness Nature Reserve, which is also designated a Metropolitan Open Land and a Site of Importance to Nature Conservation.
The nature of carbon capture technology and its operation means it must be located close to the source of the emissions. We have carefully considered and assessed whether we could avoid using part of the Crossness Local Nature Reserve, but the proposals we are putting forward represent the the most appropriate solution to achieving our carbon capture objectives whilst minimising construction and operational impacts as much as possible.
We recognise some members of the local community may have concerns over these proposals. However, the delivery of our project will provide an extensive variety of environmental and landscape enhancements to the area, all designed to increase public accessibility and biodiversity value.
Overall, our proposal is to extend the nature reserve designation, increasing it from the current 25 hectares to a new total of 31 hectares. The combination of these factors will mean that, even though we’ll be using some of the existing nature reserve to deliver our plans, we’ll improve what’s there, make it bigger and improve public access to it.
MORE ON THE PLANS FOR CROSSNESS NATURE RESERVE
- Bexley 'furious' at plans for carbon capture plants on nature reserve
- Campaign over decarbonisation plants at nature reserve
Our commitment to the local community extends beyond these proposals. We already have a community fund that supports numerous local organisations and charities and we’re currently accepting applications until the end of November 2024. If you have any projects which could benefit from our support, we’d love to hear about them via the application form on our website. We also deliver an active programme of engagement with local schools and remain a committed sponsor of the bi-annual Bexley Eco Festival.
Right now, our project is heading towards its examination phase. This means our proposals are going to be rigorously assessed by the Planning Inspectorate through a series of meetings and public hearings.
Reaching net zero is a huge challenge, but we’re working hard to decarbonise the management of London’s waste whilst delivering a solution that provides a genuinely positive outcome for the local community.
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