Fleetwood fish park plans launched
Reform Energy has announced its plans for the £20m development of a 140,000 sq ft fish park in Amounderness Way, Fleetwood, powered by a £60m energy-from-waste plant.
Designed by AHR, the new fish park would provide fish processing businesses based in and around the Wyre town the opportunity to move into new-build units on the 10-acre site.
The link between the fish park and the power plant is a key element in the economic case for the project. The plant would be built on a plot on Jameson Road and would provide a competitive source of green energy to operate the refrigeration and cooking systems at the park.
The combined heat and power technology will be supplied by Finland-based global waste-to-energy specialist Valmet.
The combined recovered energy output of the plant is sufficient to meet the needs of up to 8,000 homes with around 10 megawatts of electricity, and up to 24 megawatts of heat created using around 80,000 tonnes of recovered commercial waste material as fuel.
A £2.5m grant from the Regional Growth Fund will assist with the development of the infrastructure for the project.
The fish industry in Fleetwood generates £135m each year, and employs more than 600 people in the town. It sees fish caught in other areas, mainly Scotland, brought into Fleetwood by road and prepared for markets all over Britain and abroad.
A formal launch event and public consultation prior to the next stage of the planning process for the park is scheduled for 5 May 2015 at the Three Lights in Fleetwood, between noon and 8pm, when details of the project will be on display.
John Potter, chief executive of Reform Energy, said: "This development will bring a new economic energy to Fleetwood with the creation of the Fish Park and also addresses two issues dominating the green agenda – delivering more energy generation from sustainable resources and reducing waste going to landfill.
"Fleetwood will become a flagship location in the UK for energy recovery technology, and Reform Energy intends to use the plant as a showpiece for other generation and regeneration projects across the region.
"The energy recovery system we have chosen is designed to efficiently use waste material from commercial sources that would otherwise only be disposed of to landfill. Sophisticated technology and management of the site by our expert team will mean little or no local impact but enormous benefits in terms of green energy and new employment."
Planning permission for the plant was originally granted in 2011 and since then the Reform Energy team has been working with partners to assemble the complete package of funding and site acquisition to deliver the energy recovery plant and the fish park.
