Valencia Waste Management applied for an environmental permit to increase the permitted quantities for treatment of mixed non-hazardous waste at its Pilsworth South waste management facility at Pilsworth Road.

After reviewing 291 responses from the original consultation last year the Environment Agency is ‘minded to’ issue the environmental permit.

This means after exploring the issues and concerns that have been raised, it can’t find any reason to refuse the application, but is yet to make a final decision.

A draft permit document and draft decision document is on the Environment Agency’s Citizen Space page.

The consultation into the ‘minded to’ decision documents will close at the end of Thursday 3 July 2025.

Nigel Glasgow, Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in Greater Manchester,

We have carefully considered all the documents provided to us by Valencia Waste Management as well as the consultation comments and currently can’t find any reason to refuse the permit application.

We want to hear people’s views on the draft decision and those interested are encouraged to view the draft documents and provide comments.

We will make our final decision once we have reviewed the responses to this consultation.

The purpose of the treatment is to recover the metals, wood and plastic for recycling, and to prepare the combustible wastes for use in energy recovery off-site.

The residual waste will, where possible, be used in landfill engineering, otherwise it will be disposed of in the landfill.

The treatment will take place in a purpose-built building with specialised equipment capable of treating up to 250,000 tonnes per year.

The original consultation into this application took place ended on 23 August 2024.

The Environment Agency may only refuse a permit application if it does not meet one or more of the legal requirements under environmental legislation, including if it will have an unacceptable impact on the environment or harm human health.

If all the requirements are met, it is legally obliged to issue a permit.

The draft decision document explains the Environment Agency’s decision-making and outlines how it has considered the comments from the original consultation. The draft permit outlines the conditions would need to meet if the permit is granted.

The Environment Agency will only issue the permit if it is satisfied the operator could comply with the permit conditions and has appropriate systems in place to operate the incinerator without causing harm to the environment, human health or wildlife.

Consultation responses  

• Those unable to view the documents or make representation via the consultation website or by email should contact the Environment Agency on 03708 506 506.