The prospect of huge energy-from-waste plant in South Marston, with an enormous chimney and rubbish being shipped in by train, may just be receding slightly.
In 2019 an application to build the plant - which would see domestic waste brough in by train and heated to such a high temperature it breaks down, releasing gas which is then used to create electricity - was given approval on appeal by the government-appointed planning inspector.
It had been opposed by Swindon Borough Council and a local residents’ pressure group.
The application had been lodged by the proposed operator of the plant Rolton Kilbride “on behalf of Legal & General Assurance Ltd”.
Now, a new application for the very same plot of land at the Keypoint Industrial Estate just east of the A419 and north of the A420 has been lodged by Legal & General Investment Management.
The plan is for a large warehouse to use the site. And the application makes reference to the chimney which would have been used by the Rolton Kilbride plant: “The main landscape consideration for the previous scheme allowed at appeal at the site related to the landscape impacts of a very tall chimney.
“The proposed development does not include a tall chimney and thus is an improvement from a landscape perspective.”
The new application is at some pains to tell planners and the public that the warehouse will not be visually intrusive.
It says the building of 10,288 square metres warehouse and 580 sq m office space will be designed to “sit harmoniously within the site’s setting and present an attractive, well-considered, and high-quality design when seen from shorter views and avoid a domineering appearance".
“Therefore, its impact can be mitigated through the use of subtle banding from a suitable colour palette. From shorter views, particularly where seen from the public realm and from the approaches to the building, it is important that the building provides interesting and attractive views as part of a development of high visual quality that will enhance the quality of the area.”
The application says the plan for the energy-from-waste plant has already been activated by means of laying down asphalt and that planning permission has previously been granted for a warehouse on the site in 1997, 2001, and 2011.
All those permissions have long expired.
Rolton Kilbride has been approached for comment.
It is not common but not at all unknown for a landowner, or even a speculative developer who does not own a given site, to apply for two or more different permissions for the same site.
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