{"id":657537,"date":"2026-06-25T13:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/657537\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:14:09","slug":"decision-to-let-portland-incinerator-burn-more-waste-types-defended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/657537\/","title":{"rendered":"Decision to let Portland incinerator burn more waste types defended"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Environment Agency (EA) has defended its decision to approve changes allowing a planned incinerator to burn more types of waste<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It comes after Dorset Council said it would formally challenge the move, accusing the regulator of failing to address the wider risks of the plan.<\/p>\n

Council leader Nick Ireland said the EA’s decision “highlights a narrow regulatory test” but “does not address the wider risks and impacts for Dorset’s communities and environment”.<\/p>\n

The agency said it could not consider issues such as the suitability of the site or the impact of vehicle movements, as these were matters for the planning authority.<\/p>\n

An EA spokesperson said: “Based on the evidence assessed so far, we are satisfied that adding the proposed waste types is unlikely to result in any additional environmental impacts.”<\/p>\n

The EA added that the draft variation notice only updated the list of permitted waste types and did not include any changes to emission limits or other permit conditions.<\/p>\n

Powerfuel Portland, the company behind the project, welcomed the regulator’s decision. <\/p>\n

Director Giles Frampton said: “Powerfuel recognises the EA as the responsible UK statutory regulator and notes it is the only public body with the technical expertise and experience to make a decision on this matter.”<\/p>\n

But council leader Ireland said the authority was “very disappointed” by the EA’s stance and would submit a further response opposing it, adding the council “strongly opposed a waste incinerator in this sensitive location”.<\/p>\n

The consultation on the permit variation runs until 31 July.<\/p>\n

The incinerator is expected to process up to 202,000 tonnes of waste a year, creating energy for 30,000 homes, when it opens at Portland Port in 2030. <\/p>\n

Permission was initially rejected by Dorset Council but approved by the government in 2024 following an appeal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Environment Agency (EA) has defended its decision to approve changes allowing a planned incinerator to burn more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-657537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}