Planners think twice about chimney stacks

PLANNING bosses at Warrington have knocked back controversial proposals for three 75 ft high exhaust emission chimneys within the Arpley Landfill site.
Members of the borough council’s development management committee deferred a decision on the application to give the applicants, Infinis plc, an opportunity to revise the scheme and reduce the number of chimney stacks to one.
Nearly 70 nearby residents had lodged objections to the scheme, claiming the stacks – which would replace an existing single stack – would result in plumes of a brown/yellow discharge climbing up to 50m in height, depending on the weather conditions.
This would result in a deterioration in air quality in the area, they claimed.
Planning officers are recommended the scheme be approved, but councillors were concerned that a small number of nearby residents would be able to see the stacks from their homes.
They could not see why, which advanced technology, it was necessary to replace a single chimney stack with three new ones.
The existing stack is part of a gas utilisation compound which used gas from the landfill site to generate electricity. It is said to be nearing the end of its useful life.
At present, the future of the landfill site depends on the result of a recent public inquiry.
But officers said it the gas utilisation compound would be required even if the landfill site was forced to close.