Plans to extend Allington Incinerator have been abandoned.

Kent Enviropower runs the Integrated Waste Management Facility on the 20/20 Business Park in Allington, which opened in 2008. It can already process around 550,000 tonnes of rubbish every year.

The firm has a 25-year contract with KCC to process waste gathered from the waste transfer stations across the county.

The site which covers 84 acres burns the wast to produce 263 million kilowatts of electricity each year. It cost £150m to build.

Back in October 2019, FCC Environment, the parent company of Kent Enviropower, announced plans to increase the output by 75%, to turn Allington into one of the biggest sites of its kind in the country.

The proposal was to add a fourth waste processing line to the site to cope with an additional 350,000 tonnes of rubbish each year.

A series of public consultations were held and draft plans developed.

Both Tonbridge and Malling Council and KCC were asked to comment, but the application was deemed to be a "Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project" so any application would have had to be determined by the Government's planning inspectorate.

But after almost two years of preparation, the company has unexpectedly advised the Planning Inspectorate that it was withdrawing its proposal for the site in Laverstock Road.

In the letter of notification, the company said: "We are most grateful to the Planning Inspectorate and to the many stakeholders who have engaged with us to date on this matter."

No explanation for the withdrawal was given.

Gillian Sinclair, the head of development at FCC Environment, had previously spoken of how the proposed extension would help meet the country's national need for low carbon energy, as well as diverting millions of tons of waste from landfill.

Today, a company spokesman said: "FCC Environment can confirm that we have withdrawn the application to extend the Energy from Waste facility in Allington.

"However, the business remains committed to the facility as it exists. It is doing its vital job of converting waste that would otherwise be landfilled into energy to power homes and businesses in the area."

Andrew Kennedy is the Conservative County Councillor for Malling North East, which covers the 20/20 estate.

He said: "The existing facility already has capacity to deal with all of Kent's waste, so the county will not be affected if the extension does not go ahead.

"The extension would have provided capacity to also process waste from other counties, which we were not keen on, because of course there are traffic implications.

Cllr Kennedy said: "The company is usually quick to respond but there are occasional problems with the existing facility, queuing HGVs or fumes.

"So I imagine most local residents will regard this as good news and feel quite relieved.

"It would of course be better if we all did more to recycle our waste, rather than see it go to incineration, even if that does produce electricity"

Stuart Jeffery, a spokesman for the Green Party, said: "We ought to be aiming for a zero waste economy in any case.

"That said, there is clearly a need in the short term for a facility like this to avoid waste ending up in landfill. News that the extension will will not go ahead will therefore be seen as a disappointment by some, but perhaps it is better seen as an opportunity to re-focus our minds on reducing waste generation in the first place."