Plans revealed to move Colnbrook waste facility ahead of Heathrow expansion

The owners of a plant that converts hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste into energy every year are seeking to move it.

The Colnbrook Lakeside Energy from Waste facility and High Temperature Incinerator is set to be removed as part of the Heathrow Airport expansion.

Co-owners of the facility – Grundon Waste Management and Viridor – have submitted an application to build a ‘like-for-like’ site a few hundred metres west of the current facility.

According to the application, the new facility will have the same output as the current one, converting 440,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste into energy per year. It will also convert up to 10,000 tonnes of clinical waste.

The new facility will be designed to be more energy-efficient and sustainable than the old site, with the turbine building closer to the main boiler, minimising heat loss.

The incinerator, currently separate from the main facility, will also be closer in the new designs.

Other priorities of the application are to keep the existing plant design but enhance its architectural quality.

Colnbrook Lakeside Energy from Waste facility director Richard Skehens said: “This is a significant milestone in our proposals for a like-for-like replacement of the existing Lakeside facilities. 

“We’re grateful to everyone who has helped us reach this point and look forward to working with Slough Borough Council as the planning application progresses through the planning system.”

All the plans are subject to approval from the council.

To view the application in full visit www.sbcplanning.co.uk/plansearch.php and use reference P/17826/000