Public footpath moved to make way for new carbon capture facility

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

A public footpath is to be moved to follow the route of a disused railway line, to make way for a new carbon capture facility.

Flintshire planning officers have granted permission to permanently re-route the 473 metre public right of way that runs straight past the Heidelberg Materials site in Padeswood to make way for the new facility.

The replacement footpath will run along a nearby stretch of the now-dismantled Chester-Denbigh railway line just south of the existing pathway.

Net zero

The new carbon capture facility at Padeswood is designed to help the factory achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

It will capture 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Instead of releasing that into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, it will send it into the Hynet carbon capture pipeline.

There it will be pumped into storage wells one kilometre underneath the Irish Sea.

Cement production has taken place at Padeswood since 1949. In 2005 a new, more efficient kiln was opened and the site’s three older kilns were decommissioned.

Clinker

It is a carbon intensive process due to the heat required to produce clinker, a key ingredient derived from limestone and clay.

Recent investment in efficiency and environmental measures has seen the site reduce energy consumption by 30%.

According to Heidelberg Materials, the facility will create around 50 new full-time jobs at Padeswood and up to 500 additional jobs during construction of the carbon capture facility.

If successful the carbon capture project could see Heidelberg producing net zero cement from 2029.