DEVELOPERS are set to go back to the drawing board over a controversial energy plant in Lostock following pressure from residents and two MPs.

Organic Waste Management (OWM) already has permission for the proposed Lostock Works, but it wanted to amend the scheme for the second time in 12 months by increasing the size of the plant’s chimney stack.

The company first wanted the size to increase from 20m to 52m, before revising this down to 42m, in order to meet guidelines set by the Environment Agency.

But after Esther McVey, MP for Tatton, and Mike Amesury, MP for Weaver Vale, wrote in opposition of the proposal along with more than a dozen residents, OWM has decided to scrap the amendment.

Writing on behalf of the firm, Chris Beaver, planning agent, told Cheshire West and Chester Council: “I am writing to confirm our client’s instruction to withdraw the current application.

“It is likely that we will be instructed to submit a standalone full planning application for the chimney only in the near future.”

CWAC gave approval for the Lostock Works site in May 2011.

The site was intended to produce electricity for the national grid using mechanical biological technology, but this was halted when Bedminster International – the company behind the plant’s technology – went into liquidation.

OWM applied for a variation to the original planning application last April, asking CWAC for permission to change the way it intends to produce energy at the site – using a ‘conventional combustion and steam cycle’ instead.

CWAC agreed to this three months later, and OWM’s request for a larger chimney stack has been made as another variation to the old scheme, rather than in a new planning application.

Ms McVey wrote to CWAC last week urging the matter to be considered in a fresh application.

She said: “While on the face of it, this is a relatively minor change of condition – albeit one that increases the visual impact of the site for those in the locality – this application is part of a more fundamental change in how this waste processing site will operate.

“Such a fundamental change should not be dealt with as a removal of a condition on a previous application, but is clearly major enough to warrant a fresh planning application for the site as a whole.”

Mr Amesbury, who submitted an objection to CWAC on Monday, added: “I believe such fundamental changes to the plant’s overall structure and its impact on the surrounding area must surely require a new and revised planning application to be submitted that covers the whole plant.

“The process used is now referred to as a ‘moving grate’ arrangement which is not the same as the original bioreactor submission. The increase in stack height would seem to confirm this change.”

Members of the Cheshire Anti-Incinerator Network had also urged CWAC to force OWM to submit a new planning application for its revised scheme, fearing the increase in chimney stack size and change in energy process could mean more harmful emissions than originally expected from the Bedminster bioreactor plant.

But on behalf of his client, Mr Beaver has moved to ease residents’ fears.

“The project when completed will provide a low carbon, environmentally sustainable solution to non-recyclable residual waste materials and will also provide a low carbon heat source and power source to the industries located in Lostock Gralam,” he told the Guardian.

“The scheme will also bring more than £100 million of new investment to the local area. This will provide a significant number of new jobs.”