A "unique" condition has been imposed following a developer's incinerator bid.

After an environmental permit had been issued for a controversial incinerator on the outskirts of Beccles, "firm conditions" have been added, in what is claimed to be the first of its kind.

With plans for the Small Waste Incineration Plant (SWIP), to be operated by V.C. Cooke Ltd at Ellough Industrial Estate, near Beccles, approved by Conservative-controlled Suffolk County Council in May last year - despite numerous objections and concerns over the area becoming "a rubbish tip" for the region - an environmental permit was issued by East Suffolk Council following a consultation.

And further details of the permit issued for the incinerator that would generate energy from waste have now emerged.

A spokesman for the Green Party said: "In what it believes to be an unprecedented legal move, Green-led East Suffolk Council has insisted that the developers of a controversial new incinerator in Suffolk will only be able to operate it if they can show it doesn’t contribute to climate change.

"It is thought to be the first time that a council has put such a condition onto the environmental permit of an incinerator developer."

Without an environmental permit, the company can't legally operate the plant.