Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 1.113 of the Government Response to the Transport Committee Report on the revised draft Airports National Policy Statement, HC 548. what the evidential basis was for his Department's statement that there is sufficient waste management capacity to absorb any Lakeside loss.

DEFRA used publicly available data on waste disposal held by the Environment Agency to confirm that the Lakeside energy from waste plant is not a strategic asset and its loss would not affect the UK’s ability to meet environmental targets e.g. diversion from landfill. Therefore there is neither a statutory nor a policy reason to mandate replacement of the plant in the proposed Airports National Policy Statement.

The Lakeside energy from waste High Temperature Incinerator (HTI) mainly treats clinical waste. In the South East and London Regions (which includes the Lakeside facility) there are three HTIs (including Lakeside) with permitted capacity of 68kt. However, in 2016 only 57kt of waste was treated in total at these facilities and 5kt (or 9% of the total capacity) at Lakeside. The clinical waste burned at Lakeside does not have to be dealt with by an HTI. There are six clinical waste plants in the South East and London Regions (including Lakeside) therefore the loss of the clinical waste tonnage at Lakeside could be met by other facilities.