The borough council has announced that it will focus its resources on preparing the ‘strongest case’ against a proposed incinerator in King’s Lynn.

Following legal advice, the borough council has decided to concentrate on preparing a case against the construction of an incinerator that it will put before the planning inspectorate when an independent inquiry begins in February, and to no longer pursue a judicial review of the Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman’s decision to award PFI credits for the project.

Cllr Daubney, Leader of the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk, explained: "The advice of our barrister was to focus our resources on the course of action that would be most likely to give us the outcome that the people of west Norfolk want.

“We have always argued that an independent public inquiry into the planning application would be the most appropriate place for everyone to have their say about the incinerator and would mean that all the considerations would be explored objectively.

It is our chance to put as robust a case as possible to the planning inspector, clearly setting out why building an incinerator in King's Lynn is not the right thing to do. We believe that this is our best chance of stopping this project therefore we have decided to withdraw from the judicial review and focus all our efforts on fighting this battle from a planning point of view.”

“Deciding to withdraw from the judicial review does not mean that we will not continue to question the decision to awards PFI credits.

We will continue to work with parliamentary representatives to scrutinise the detail of the decision as I feel strongly that the financing package, the projected costs and pre-contract agreements made with Cory Wheelabrator require further explanation.”

“The most important thing is that we make the strongest case against the incinerator and the one that is most likely to succeed and I hope that the people of west Norfolk will engage fully with this process.”

The Planning Inspectorate has announced that the public inquiry will be held at the Professional Development Centre, Kilham’s Way, King’s Lynn and will begin on 26 February 2013. Prior to the inquiry a pre-inquiry meeting (PIM) will be held where the timetable for the inquiry, and other administrative details integral to the smooth running of the inquiry, will be agreed.

The PIM will take place on 28 November at the Professional Development Centre. The inquiry is held in public and anyone can attend. It is expected to last approximately 20 days.

The Planning Inspectorate will listen to and review all the evidence relating to the application and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State about whether it should be granted permission.

The inquiry is a bespoke inquiry however it is anticipated that the rules will be similar to those for standard appeals. All previous correspondence on the application before the call in will be noted by the inspector. If they wish, people can re-submit their comments to the inquiry by writing to the address below.

Anyone wishing to speak at the meeting as a third party speaker should write to the case officer Robert Cook, 4/02 Kite Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN outlining why they want to speak. The Planning Inspectorate will assess these requests and invite people to speak based upon the arguments they wish to present.

The Planning Inspectorate recommends that comments be typed where possible and that people include their name, address, the case reference number (which in the case relating to the incinerator is APP/X2600/V/12/2183389), the address of the site to which the application relates (The Willows Business Park, High (Saddlebow) Road, Saddlebow Industrial Estate) and their reasons for either supporting or opposing the application.

People will be chosen to speak on the basis of the argument they put forward. Where a number of parties express the same argument the inspectorate may suggest that one person speaks on behalf of others to avoid repetition.

The Borough Council, King's Lynn without incineration (KLWIN), the applicant Cory Wheelabrator and Norfolk County Council, are all formal parties in the Inquiry process, and will be putting their arguments direct to the Inspector at the Inquiry.

The detailed cases of each of the formal parties will also be published on the Planning Inspectorate’s website at www.planningportal.gov.uk, in accordance with a timescale agreed by the Inspectorate.