West Midlands Combined Authority offered support for a new programme that is seeking to heat homes in the local area with waste, whilst also delivering employment opportunities.
As it strives to collaborate with the combined authority and local councils to provide heating to local homes, the Walsall Energy From Waste facility was offered support from the authority, with £7.5 million tabled to help kickstart the project. Heating would be delivered to homes in the form of steam or hot water, with waste being collected from local and regional waste management companies.
Walsall Council’s Leader, Cllr Mike Bird, said:
“Not only will this new development bring clean power to our community, but it will also generate employment opportunities within the borough, creating over 50 permanent jobs once complete.
“The new development at Fryers Road adds to Walsall’s exciting regeneration portfolio which is currently underway. As a borough, through substantial inward investment and grant funding, we are seeing an investment of £1.5 billion which aims to generate over 4000 employment opportunities and create 1,000 new homes.”
The investment was offered as part of the combined authority’s ‘brownfield first’ programme to regenerate industrial sites to create new homes and workspaces. Alongside the new heating methods, communities will benefit from around 450 new job opportunities being created during the construction phase. Once the plant is fully operational – the goal for which is 2027 – it will play host to 50 direct jobs.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street touched on the programme, saying:
“This important initiative will power homes here in Walsall at the same time as helping us to maintain our #WM2041 net zero commitment. The Fryers Road site being brought forward by Encylis is an innovative example of how we can turn waste into energy.
“This plan underlines our burgeoning practical environmental credentials. Whether we’re retrofitting homes to ensure they’re more energy efficient, cutting energy bills for local businesses or making our transport network more sustainable, the West Midlands is leading the way when it comes to the Green Industrial Revolution.
“It’s great news that this scheme is set to create more than 400 local jobs and I look forward to seeing residents benefit from projects like this in the months and years ahead.”
Councillor Ian Courts, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Land – and Solihull Council’s Leader – also commented:
“We know that achieving net zero by 2041 was a bold and ambitious statement for the region to make. But projects such as this can help us get there.
“I’m pleased to see our non-hazardous landfill waste being used to generate electricity and heat for local homes in Walsall at this brand-new energy-from-waste plant.
“It’s also great to see vacant land being regenerated to deliver a project that will help us move from our dependency on fossil fuels to a cleaner, greener future for the region.”
With environment projects being undertaken around the country, and concerns about whether the UK will be able to meet its 2050 net zero deadline, you can find out more about decarbonisation in the public sector by registering to Public Sector Executive's Decarbonisation Online Conference here.
Image credit: iStock
