AN applicant has announced it will modify its planning application after a permit for a controversial incinerator was rejected.

In February, Essex County Council approved Gent Fairhead’s revised plans to build a facility - including a heat and power plant, a recycling plant, an anaerobic digester, a mechanical biological treatment plant, a pulp plant and a waste water treatment centre - at Rivenhall Airfield.

The plans caused uproar among residents and a permit application to burn waste was rejected by the Environment Agency on December 21.

It was ruled the applicant did not demonstrate the use of best available practices to reduce emissions and the impact on the environment and drew particular attention to the low stack height.

Now Gent Fairhead has said "work has commenced" on a planning application to vary its height.

A spokesman said: “The Environment Agency has agreed in its report that the facility is unlikely to contribute to exceedances of any environmental standard for human health.

“Having considered the Environment Agency’s detailed decision report, and its consultation responses to local councillors and members of the public who had expressed concern about the height of the stack, work has commenced on a planning application to vary condition 56 of the planning permission that limits the height of the stack.

“Any proposed change in stack height will be supported by an updated air quality assessment which will also take into account the best available technologies for reducing emissions that are now available.

“In summary, the planning application to vary the stack height is being made to satisfy the Environment Agency’s feedback, and address the concerns of local councillors and members of the public.”