The Planning Portal is the UK government's on-line planning and building regulation resource. It provides advice and guidance to applicants on how to submit a planning application. It also provides an explanation of the changes introduced by the PCPA 2004: available at http://planningportal.gov.uk.
Planning for Waste Management Facilities: A Research Study published by ODPM draws on real examples and provides indicative site sizes/building footprints/throughput capacities for a range of technologies: available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/embedded_object.asp?id=1145713.
Be aware of any SPG or SPS produced by the relevant planning authority stating the level of information required to accompany an application for waste infrastructure.
Be familiar with the planning authority's "Statement of Community Involvement" which sets out how local communities will be consulted on all types of planning applications.
Planning for Sustainable Waste Management: Companion Guide to Planning Policy Statement 10, Chapter 8 provides guidance to waste planning authorities on determining planning applications: available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/ index.asp?id=1500757
A useful and up to date source of information on environmental regulations and permitting is the Netregs website. Netregs is a partnership between the Environment Agency, SEPA and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland. http://www.netregs.gov.uk