Judges quash Invergordon incinerator approval
JUDGES have today (Thursday) quashed a decision to give planning approval to a highly controversial £43 million waste incinerator proposed in Easter Ross.
Derby-based Combined Power and Heat (Highlands) received permission to build the Invergordon plant in November 2012 following a public inquiry.
But Highland Council and former Harrod’s boss Mohamed Al Fayed, who owns an estate near Invergordon, challenged the decision in the Court of session.
Lord President, Lord Gill, sitting with Lords Menzies and Clarke, have now quashed the approval and ruled that the public inquiry must be reopened, but deal only with condition 2 - what waste is handled by the proposed plant.
It was one of 16 conditions attached to planning consent granted by a Scottish Government planning reporter in 2012.
Combined Power and Heat (Highlands) wants to buid the waste-to-energy plant at the site of Invergordon’s former smelter in the Cromarty Firth Industrial Park.
Tina McCaffery, chairwoman of the community campaign group, said: "I’m delighted to see that the Court of Session has not not granted approval for the incinerator. We look forward to submitting the community’s evidence on condition 2 to stop this incinerator going ahead."
