Controversial Calderdale incinerator inquiry set to resume at Halifax town hall

Calder Valley Skip Hire appealed against Calderdale Council Planning Committee’s decision to refuse the company permission to operate a small waste incineration plant at its Belmont Industrial Estate, Rochdale Road, Triangle, site, and to vary some of the site’s existing conditions of use.

A public inquiry into the appeal opened at the start of April and was scheduled to have finished at the end of that week – but the hearing was adjourned while the company submitted a revised Environmental Statement.

The council was then able to consult the public further on the additional information that statement might contain.

Now the inquiry will resume under Planning Inspector Ian Jenkins at Halifax Town Hall, Crossley Street, on Tuesday, November 26, at 10am, and is expected to last four days, after which the inspector will consider his decision.

The application has proved controversial, attracting opposition from all political parties, MPs Craig Whittaker (Con, Calder Valley) and Holly Lynch (Lab, Halifax), petitions and protests and generating more than 1,000 responses on the council’s planning portal, mainly objecting to the plans.

At the inquiry’s opening in the spring, counsel for the council and the company laid out their initial positions.