Power plants and incinerators such as the one proposed for Shrewsbury could usher in a new chapter in English industrial architecture, according to a government advisory body.

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) says waste management facilities like Veolia’s planned £60 million burner at Battlefield have an important pioneering function and are being built in increasing numbers.

This is in response to sharply escalating EU landfill tax and the move away from landfill. In 2009/10, 10 per cent less municipal waste ended up in landfill.

Cabe’s design review has already seen 36 proposals for new plants.

It says: “Good design for these plants is particularly important because the dimensions are so vast: they can easily intimidate an urban neighbourhood or spoil precious rural views.

“There is the opportunity for these new plants to match the ambitions and quality of the great tradition of British industrial architecture. Cabe has already seen some excellent contemporary designs.”

It added: “Waste management facilities comprise a variety of technologies, each requiring a different architectural solution.

“An incinerator, for example, requires a large hall to receive the waste, a boiler house where it is combusted and a turbine hall where the energy is generated. Filter systems, air condensers and the stacks form the other major elements.

“The general bulk of the plant can reach a height of up to 50 metres, the stacks can be up to 80 metres tall and the length of the building can be up to 200 metres.

“Those dimensions easily surpass the length of St Paul’s Cathedral (158 metres) and are as high as a 15-storey apartment block.”

Shropshire Council’s strategic planning committee threw out the proposals for the incinerator in Shrewsbury in September, with one of the reasons being the visual impact of the burner next to the historic Battlefield site.

But the full council agreed earlier this month to back any future appeal by Veolia – with county taxpayers set to pick up the bill.

By Russell Roberts