Minister backs Gloucester's energy plan for landfill site
By Mark Owen | 30th April 2021
The creation of an energy and eco park in the former landfill site at Hempsted could pave the way for schemes across the country.
That is the view of environment minister Rebecca Pow MP, who visited the site to plant the first of 10,000 trees which will form part of the new park.
With the move to transferring waste to the energy plant at Javelin Park, the site has become purely a Household Recycling Centre - paving the way for around 360 acres previously used for landfill to form the energy park and Hempsted Woods.
Plans would see the site's owners Enovert generate energy via biomass, solar, wind and potentially hydrogen, as well as the wooded area of around 250 acres with more than 100,000 trees.
After her visit, the minister said: "I was very interested to see the scheme and I think there is potential with all these partnerships working together.
"There is so much good work going on here which is all being done in partnerships which is a direction we very much want to go in.
"The landfill site will harness the opportunities which will generate energy, then create money and jobs and will have green corridors running through it. The health and wellbeing benefits are enormous.
The minister was accompanied on the visit by city MP Richard Graham.
He said: "She has heard Enover describe how we are going to generate renewable energy - biomass, wind, solar and hydrogen.
"This could be a great model for the whole country. I hope she will go away and think Gloucester might be on the road to become England's greenest small city."
Enovert has transformed a series of former landfill sites intro country parks but this would be the first to be transformed into renewable energy alongside an eco park.
Chief executive Mark Silvester said: "The production of power gives Gloucester a green energy hub near the city which allows us to distribute power more locally.
"Businesses could get their power direct from the source or arrangements to connect through a contract with potentially cheaper power prices."
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