SAG questions council decision (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

SAG questions council decision

CAMPAIGNERS hoping to scupper plans for a composting site near Fairford claim it was not one of the preferred sites identified in the county's waste plan.

Gloucestershire County Council compiled a report nearly a year ago as a guide to waste related development for the county until 2012.

Twenty-one sites were earmarked as potential composting sites, but the Sunhill site was not among them.

Furthermore, along with Sunhill approximately 150 sites within the county hold a waste management licence.

Agricultural Supply Company, which owns the Sunhill mushroom composting site, is hoping to process mixed organic and green waste.

However, owner John Clay has now sent his planning application to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on grounds of non-determination.

This could result in a public inquiry being held in 14 or 15 months time.

GCC deferred the application because it was felt insufficient information on environmental issues had been submitted, a move fully supported by the Sunhill Action Group, which opposes his application on public health grounds.

It also says the roads around Fairford will be unable to cope with the increase in lorry movements.

SAG chairman Paul Lilly said: "It's not as if Sunhill is the only site available in Gloucestershire for an industrial-scale waste management facility.

"There are other more valid sites in closer proximity to urban areas, with far better lorry access routes that would have less impact on road safety.

"We're not against recycling but we're concerned about the proposed new waste processing development at Sunhill because of safety issues, the rural location, foul odours and the risk to public health."

Ultimately SAG believe GCC only choose Sunhill because it needs to find a site capable of taking waste containing animal by-products before the European Union Landfill Directive begins to bite next year.

But a GCC spokesman said this week the council's waste plan deals with more than just composting and is a complicated initiative.

Lucy Binnie, principal planning officer, said: "To say that there are 21 better sites (than Sunhill) is totally wrong.

"The waste plan identified sites for every type of waste management - concrete crushing is not the same as composting."

She also said that although 21 sites were identified in the plan, only one other one was suitable for composting.

In the mean time ASC has submitted two further applications, one a duplicate application giving some further information to the one appealed, the other a new temporary application to process 10,000 tonnes of green waste per year.

These new applications are scheduled to go before GCC on Thursday, November 10.