WORK on the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant (LSEP) could soon take place on Sundays and go on until 10pm on weeknights.

That’s according to new proposals from LSEP Ltd, the firm behind the controversial energy from waste plant currently being built.

An application to Cheshire West and Chester Council shows that the company wants to continue weeknight working until 10pm — three hours later than currently permitted — and work until 4pm on both Saturdays and Sundays.

“The necessity to extend these hours stems from a need to introduce more flexible working practices within the LSEP site, in light of current restrictions imposed by the UK government social distancing guidelines,” a letter to the council said.

It added: “These distancing measures are causing considerable disruption to the normal working activities over the LSEP site, for example, staggered worker start and finish times to keep with distancing rules reduce the ability of trams to operate at full capacity.

“The extended working hours would allow considerable relaxation of these pressures on the activities across the whole of the LSEP side during the construction (and demolition) works.”

The letter goes on to say that the firm is ‘seeking to liaise’ with the government on whether an April 1 deadline to cease the longer hours can be extended.

The deadline is required under the law in which the company is applying, which also compels councils to make a decision within 14 days.

Once completed, the LSEP will burn waste in order to generate electricity.

Recently, LSEP Ltd’s plans to increase the amount of waste it burns annually from 600,000 tonnes to 728,000 have been slammed by both MPs and councillors.

MP Mike Amesbury has said he ‘expects the Government to do the right thing and put an end to the expansion’ as the project goes against the grain when we are transitioning towards a cleaner and greener, carbon neutral economy’.

Northwich Witton councillor Sam Naylor has also called on the firm to use the existing rail head at the site, in order to reduce some of the projected 1,200 daily HGV movements to and from the plant.

Cllr Naylor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The biggest issue is the number of HGVs needed to truck in this 728,000 tonnes of waste [annually]. We are not going to stop this power plant but we can do our best to mitigate the HGV traffic as waste from all over the UK will be trucked in to Northwich.

“The best thing we can do is to go back and see why they cannot use the railway. The people delivering it did not dismiss it recently.

“We want whoever is delivering this project to work with rail authorities and not just pay lip service to it.”

In response, LSEP Ltd said it was ‘still in the process of shaping our transport strategy for LSEP and have been looking at opportunities to use non-road transport options for waste delivery’.