Proposals for a new gas-fired power plant on the site of a Lynn paper mill will not have a major impact on the surrounding area, according to council officials.

The comment is contained in a report on Palm Paper’s plans to build a combined cycle gas turbine at its Poplar Avenue site.

The government will have the final say on whether the scheme can proceed or not.

But West Norfolk Council’s planning committee has been urged to support the proposal when it meets in Lynn next Monday.

The authority is being invited to comment in its capacity as an interested party to the application, which has been deemed to be a nationally significant infrastructure project.

And officers reported to them: “The existing environment is predominantly industrial, with relatively high background noise levels.

“A development of this scale and nature will not have significantly adverse impacts in this location.”

The company is hoping to build a 162 megawatt combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT), which would use imported natural gas to generate electricity and steam for its paper production processes.

It says that would reduce its reliance on imported energy and reduce the factory’s carbon dioxide emissions.

Although it is now more than two years since details of the proposal were first made public, it was only last autumn that the application was formally accepted by the Planning Inspectorate.

Groups were then invited to register as interested parties to comment on the scheme before it is examined in more detail.

A decision on whether the plant can be built is not expected until early next year.

 

lynnnews.co.uk

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