A MATERIALS reclamation facility handling up to 100,000 tonnes of waste annually has been given the go ahead by Worcestershire county council’s planning and regularity committee.
The facility, which although close to Redditch actually lies in Bromsgrove district, is situated off Weights Lane opposite the Abbey Stadium.
The application, which was lodged by Adam Wood of Redditch Skip Hire and Waste Transfer Station, was unanimously approved and even won praise from county councillors despite local member Coun Kit Taylor (Bromsgrove East) raising a number of objections.
Coun Taylor, who is not a member of the committee but was allowed to speak but not vote on the issue, questioned the amount of noise, traffic and general disturbance the facility would generate.
Access would be off the A441 where considerable house building has already begun and Coun Taylor quoted a district planning officer who said the facility would be ‘detrimental to the residential amenity of any future occupiers of this development’.
Coun Taylor, who has 30 years experience of the reclamation industry, also questioned the quoted figure of 248 daily ‘vehicle movements’ in and out of facility, saying once the waste had been processed it would have to go on somewhere else, generating more vehicle movements.
He also said if the facility was employing an additional 20 staff that amounted to 40 more ‘vehicle movements’ daily.
He added that no mention was made of the size of the trucks using the site and these could be up to eight wheel articulated vehicles carrying a 30 cubic yard skip.
He raised further points on possible mercury pollution and fluid spillages entering the water system, and called for the application to be deferred.
However Coun Robert Adams (Con, Upton Snodsbury) said he wanted a decision made that day (Tuesday, December 6).
Members heard developers Bovis Homes had already agreed to fund road improvements in the area, that inspectors could visit the site unannounced to check everything was in order and any issue on dangerous materials would be handled under a separate environmental licence.
Instead committee members said Mr Woods should be praised and that ‘as a can do council’ such development for recycling facilities should be encouraged.
