Why Raynesway?

The Raynesway Resource Park is proposed to be developed on a circa 16 acre plot known as plot N on the Derby Commercial Park in East Raynesway. The site has a history of heavy industry for nearly one hundred years; being part of the British Cellulose Company Limited (now known as Celanese). This project will see the construction of a building that currently has consent on land that is in the process of remediation to be brought back into beneficial use. In addition to this the chosen location for the Resource Park (Plot N) will sit adjacent to a 200 Mega Watt Combined Cycle Gas fired Power Station (Derwent Co- Generation Limited) and the largest industrial user of electricity and heat in Derby (the remaining Celanese operation). This industrial backdrop provides a suitable setting against which to locate the Resource Park.

As can be seen from the image below the development sits sandwiched between the Celanese and power station operations and the remaining 100 acres of commercial development remote from residential areas.

A fundamental principle of sustainability is proximity. This principle seeks to ensure that activities are carried out close to the market they serve and are limited in scale to represent the local community; the principle seeks to reduce vehicle transport and allow convenient access to the development for the workforce.

Derby is a large urban settlement within the East Midlands. As such it proportionately produces significant waste streams from the businesses that serve this population. Locating a facility in Raynesway stops waste being transferred out of the area for disposal, contributing to the reduction of greenhouses gases from transportation and by recycling and renewable energy production. Indeed, 20% of the throughput for the Resource Park is available within the Derby Commercial Park development and potential users of the power and heat/steam are also neighbours.

Raynesway Resource Park will need employees that reflect the full spectrum of employment with over 50% of the jobs of NVQ Level 2 standard and the average income being £1000 per annum over the average for Derby. The jobs from Phase 1 will include engineers, technicians and operations management staff. A key reason for selecting Raynesway for the development of a Resource Park is the availability of the workforce and the historical pre-disposition to manufacturing and engineering. Indeed, manufacturing plays a major role in Derby's employment making up 22% of all jobs – the highest sector in Derby. Meanwhile, unemployment in Derby is higher than the national average although encouragingly the economic benefit of Derby Commercial Park will be significant with circa 3000 jobs created by the various occupiers.

The Raynesway Resource Park is clearly a major development which will attract high public interest. To ensure that the development is appropriate to the site chosen, a thorough evaluation of current and emerging planning policy and guidance was undertaken. This review produced two important points;

Planning for Waste Developments

Derby City Council along with Derbyshire County Council is in the process of responding to obligations placed on them by the government to plan for the sustainable management of waste within their authority boundaries. The waste they are responsible for managing includes commercial and industrial waste. In total Derby City and Derbyshire produce 2 Million tonnes of waste per annum; more than 1 Million tonnes of this is landfilled. Based on this production of waste there is now only 6 years left before the current landfill void space is exhausted. The Councils have jointly carried out a significant exercise looking at the sites that will be required to replace landfill and allow waste to be managed as a resource to be reused instead of lost. This work is embodied in a document called 'Statement to assist Applicants in preparing Planning Applications for Waste Management Development'. In this document the location chosen for Raynesway Resource Park is considered suitable (subject to a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment which we have submitted with the planning application) for the development as a Resource Park.

Renewable Energy

On a national level the recent announcement from Gordon Brown that £100bn will be spent on renewable energy underlines the importance of replacing fossil fuels.

Derbyshire, as every authority does, has a renewable energy target. This target is 224 Mega Watts of installed electric capacity. This development will have an installed electric capacity of 10 Mega Watts (50% which is classified as renewable), equivalent to 18% of the net remaining renewable energy target.

Derby City Council takes climate change seriously, ensuring developments where possible source renewable energy to replace fossil fuels and focuses on sustainable energy use. As demonstration of this it, like more than 300 other local authorities, has signed up to Nottingham Declaration, a document that commits the Council to actively tackle climate change in their area and help the UK deliver its national climate change targets. Further to this the Council has a policy of reducing energy use and promoting energy conservation in the community as well as promoting the benefits of renewable energy sources and to source renewable power when this option is appropriate.