1. The Rookery South (Resource Recovery Facility) Order 2011 is an item of secondary legislation produced under the provisions of an Act of Parliament. Rather than being subject to the standard procedures of negative annulment or affirmative approval by Parliament, the parent Act specifies that it is subject to the Special Parliamentary Procedure which is set out in the Statutory Orders (Special Procedure) Act 1945 and the Private Business Standing Orders of both Houses. Unlike other forms of Parliamentary approval, this procedure enables parties who are directly and specially affected by the Order to petition against it. The purpose of this Report is to announce and explain our decisions about which petitions are certified as proper to be received, as it is only such petitions which go forward to a joint committee of both Houses.

THE ROOKERY SOUTH (RESOURCE RECOVERY FACILITY) ORDER 2011

2. The application to build a 65 megawatt "energy from waste generating station" on the site of former brick works at Stewartby in Bedfordshire was lodged by Covanta Rookery South Limited with the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) on 4 August 2010. The proposal is classed as a "nationally significant infrastructure project" under the Planning Act 2008 because of the size of the proposed plant and, as such, is subject to the provisions of that Act with respect to the grant of development consent.

3. The IPC granted development consent to the scheme under two National Policy Statements on Energy.[1] These National Policy Statements were approved by the House of Commons on 18 July 2011.[2] In addition to planning consent, the Development Consent Order contains provisions for the compulsory purchase of types of land which under section 128(2) of the 2008 Act trigger Special Parliamentary Procedure. The Order would not have been subject to Special Parliamentary Procedure if either (a) none of the land to be compulsorily purchased had been "special land" (see paragraph 9 below), or (b) the Local Authority or Statutory Undertaker had been in agreement with the Order or they had withdrawn their opposition before the Order was laid, or (c) the applicant (Covanta) had itself been registered as a Statutory Undertaker.

4.  The Rookery South (Resource Recovery Facility) Order 2011 was laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on 29 November 2011. In accordance with the 1945 Act, a 21 day joint petitioning process in both Houses commenced on that same day. 39 petitions were deposited by the closing date on 19 December (see Table 1).[3] During the subsequent memorial period (a memorial is an objection from the Applicant or the Secretary of State that a petitioner does not have the right to be heard), which closed on 10 January, the Secretary of State and Covanta Rookery South Limited each deposited memorials against all the petitions, arguing that they were not proper to be received. A total of 78 memorials were received.[4]Table1: Petitioners against the order and their Agents

Petitioners	Agent
1. Ampthill Town Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
2. Aspley Guise Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
3. Aspley Guise Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
4. Aspley Heath Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
5. Brogborough Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
6. Brogborough Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
7. Cranfield Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
8. Cranfield Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
9. Flitwick Town Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
10. Harlington Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
11. Hockcliffe Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
12. Houghton Conquest Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
13. Houghton Regis Town Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
14. Hulcote and Salford Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
15. Hulcote and Salford Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
16. Husborne Crawley Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
17. Husborne Crawley Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
18. Kempston Town Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
19. Leighton-Linslade Town Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
20. Lidlington Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
21. Lidlington Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
22. Marston Moreteyne Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
23. Marston Moreteyne Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
24. Millbrook Parish Meeting [General Objection]	Sue Clark
25. Millbrook Parish Meeting [Amendment]	Sue Clark
26. Ridgmont Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
27. Ridgmont Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
28. Stewartby Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
29. Stewartby Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
30. Toddington Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
31. Woburn Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
32. Woburn Sands Town Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
33. Wootton Parish Council [General Objection]	Sue Clark
34. Wootton Parish Council [Amendment]	Sue Clark
35. Waste Recycling Group Limited, WRG Waste Services Limited and Anti Waste Limited [Amendment]	Alison Ogley of Walker Morris Solicitors
36. Central Bedfordshire Council [General Objection]	Alastair Lewis of Sharpe Pritchard
37. Central Bedfordshire Council [Amendment]	Alastair Lewis of Sharpe Pritchard
38. Bedford Borough Council [General Objection]	Alastair Lewis of Sharpe Pritchard
39. Bedford Borough Council [Amendment]	Alastair Lewis of Sharpe Pritchard

5. Section 3 of the 1945 Act requires the Chairman of Ways and Means in the House of Commons and the Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords to determine whether a petition is proper to be received. A petition will not be proper to be received if the petitioner does not have locus standi. Powers are conferred on the two Chairmen under the Private Business Standing Orders of both Houses to decide questions of locus standi where, as in this case, an objection to locus standi has been made in a memorial. To this end, a hearing where petitioners and memorialists put their cases must be held. Petitioners who are deemed to have locus standi, and whose petitions are deemed to be proper to be received, will then be able to appear before a joint committee of the two Houses.

6. On 8 March 2012, we held a hearing on petitions against the Rookery South (Resource Recovery Facility) Order 2011. Agents presented the case of each petitioner and of the two memorialists. The transcript of the hearing is available on the Parliament website,[5] and subsequent correspondence with the Department of Energy and Climate Change is at Appendix A. The purpose of this Report is to announce our decisions on each individual petition along with an explanation for our reasoning. We also wish to draw attention to anomalies in the current statutory framework which are unsatisfactory. We hope our Report will be helpful not only for petitioners and memorialists in this specific case, but also to the parties in future cases. Above all, we hope the Government will act on our call for the current statutory framework to be amended.

THE PROCESS AFTER OUR REPORT

7. On the date of our Report to the two Houses, a 21 day Resolution period will commence. If, during this period, either House were to resolve that the Order be annulled, the Order would become void, and no further proceedings on it could be taken in either House.

8. If no annulment motion is agreed by either House within 21 days, the petitions that we have certified as proper to be received will stand referred to a joint committee of both Houses for consideration. The committee has the power to report the Order with or without amendment, or to report that the Order be not approved.

2   (1) Department of Energy and Climate Change: Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1), July 2011, and (2) Department of Energy and Climate Change: National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure (EN-3), July 2011. Back

3   25 are "Petitions of General Objection" to the Order, and 14 are "Petitions of Amendment". Four are from the relevant Borough and County Councils, 34 are from Parish and Town Councils, and one is from waste and recycling companies. Back

4   The petitions and memorials can be viewed on the Parliament web-site at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/bills-and-legislation/secondary-legislation/special-procedure-orders/rookery-south/petitions/ Back

5   http://www.parliament.uk/documents/special-procedure-orders/rookery-south/ChairmensHearing/Correctd-Trnscrpt-Chairmens-Hearing-RookeryS-08032012.pdf Back