Last year a seemingly routine planning application to Bristol City Council resulted in an unexpected decision, with consequences stretching half-way around the world. An initial application was submitted by Bristol-based renewable energy firm W4B in December 2009 for a 50MW biofuel power station to be built on a brown-field site at Avonmouth docks. It was proposed that the plant would use palm-oil imported from Indonesian producers to supply 25,000 homes in the city with "green" energy.
Within days of being submitted however the application was met with fierce resistance from green-consumers in the city on the grounds that the plant would contribute to climate change by sourcing palm-oil grown on land cleared from virgin rainforest. Mike Andrews, a local resident and former executive producer with the BBC's Natural History unit said that in addition to clearing vast areas of rainforest, burning CO2 and destroying a much needed carbon-sink, palm oil plantations in parts of the world such as Indonesia and Malaysia were directly displacing indigenous communities: "These forests are inhabited which means people are being driven from their homes, often at gunpoint, to make way for the plantations."
Throughout December and January the application attracted more than 1,100 letters of objection and was subjected to widespread criticism in the local media. Despite such unprecedented opposition however Bristol City Council planning officer Martin Seaton claimed that the source of the fuel was "not a material planning matter" and therefore could not be taken into account when deciding whether to grant permission. He subsequently recommended planning should be granted ahead of a committee hearing on 24 February.
The hearing, which was attended by more than 100 members of the public, was told by the Council's legal officer that a rejection of the plan would only be valid on environmental grounds local to Bristol, not due to global environmental concerns. Speaking at the meeting the chairman of W4B Bristol Chris Slack said that the plant was essential if the UK was to meet its pledge to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. "The plant will import just one per cent of the fossil fuels currently brought into Avonmouth from overseas, it will create employment in the city – as well as maintaining Avonmouth as the South West's most significant energy port".
Also speaking at the hearing however Lib Dem Councillor Neil Harrison said there were clauses in the Bristol Local Plan, a planning blueprint for the city, which meant the source of fuel could be considered. "The fundamental question is whether the term 'natural environment' in the Bristol Local Plan extends beyond the boundaries of the city or not. The view of the planning officers is that it does not. The counter view I put across strongly is that it has a wider application and that the Local Plan gives specific examples to support this view".
The meeting also heard that by creating demand for palm-oil from industrial plantations, the W4B development would directly undermine local food security for the communities on whose land the cash-crop would be grown. After two and a half hours of deliberation city councillors voted six in favour and two against a motion to object the application. Following the hearing Chris Slack stated the intention of W4B to appeal against the decision.
www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/w4bmay2010.php
Update March 2011
W4B have now won permission for this plant on appeal (decision ref. APP/Z0116/A/10/2126342, dated18 Feb 2011). Resistance to the project continues, however, with a sharpened focus on the source of the proposed fuel.
In a judgement which sets an important precedent for the many biomass power station applications now in the pipeline, Secretary of State Eric Pickles disagreed with W4B (and Planning Inspector T Cookson), finding that the sustainability of the fuel did count as a material consideration. He imposed a condition that the plant must burn only "sustainable bioliquids" as defined under EU Directive 2009/28.
“As a general rule, the Secretary of State does not consider that the sustainability, and, in so far as it is relevant to sustainability, the geographical source of fuels used to fuel non-renewable generating stations are material considerations for planning purposes. However, he considers that the sustainability of bioliquids (i.e. liquid fuels derived from biomass and not used for transport) is a material consideration which is relevant to his decision,” the minister’s decision letter said.