In a letter from the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), as part of the public inquiry into a proposed incinerator in Cornwall, SITA (“the appellant”) has been instructed to provide details of the assumptions that underpin SITA’s use of the WRATE modelling software, including relevant Carbon Balance Calculations.
The letter reads:
Regarding the recent requests for information and your responses, I have consulted the inspector who has advised that the key to understanding any modelling exercise is to know what assumptions have been made. It is important in this case for all parties to know what assumptions were built into the WRATE modelling exercise carried out by the appellant and this needs to be done well before the inquiry so that the evidence prepared by the parties can deal with this matter.
The inspector is of the view that the parties need to be as open as possible. Accordingly, the appellant is urged to release the Carbon Balance Calculations requested by Cornwall Transition Network.
If the assumptions touch on matters of commercial confidentiality, this could be dealt with by having the modelling exercise (and its assumptions) reviewed by independent consultants with knowledge of the WRATE process. The review would need to be into the use of the WRATE modelling exercise to this particular proposal not to the WRATE
model itself. The WRATE model is widely used and accepted. This appropriateness and acceptability of the WRATE model itself are not matters that are in dispute.
