A recycling plant in Nuneaton
has been granted planning permission despite fierce opposition from Friends of the Earth.
Warwickshire County Council has agreed to a proposal by Wolverhampton-based Greenways
Waste Management to develop the waste facility at Judkins Quarry.
The plant will have dedicated units to process plastic, glass, metal, textiles and
paper as well as a composting area for organic waste.
It is thought that the site will sort around 65 tonnes of household waste a year, but
Friends of the Earth believe this will be counter-productive.
Nuenaton Friends of the Earth spokesperson Christine Upton said:
"We were pushing very hard for more consideration to be taken on the decision as
the Griff Site would be far more suitable.
"Any environmental benefit gained from the recycling of waste material will be
effectively cancelled out by the traffic congestion and subsequent pollution that will be
a result of this development."
"We want to be clear that people do not think Friends of the Earth are against
waste disposal sites – we are all for them.
"We just think that Judkins Quarry is very central in the town and with other
things that are going on in the same area such as quarrying and landfill it will be a
hugely busy site.
"Griff Quarry has both canal and railway access which could be used to carry waste
onto the site, so that would dramatically reduce the amount of traffic.
"It is really the local residents that were most fiercely opposed to this plan,
and we were backing them."
The scheme has drawn objections from residents on the nearby Stoney Road who would be
flanked on three sides by waste disposal facilities – possibly devaluing their
properties.
However, the site has been backed by the Environment Agency and Nuneaton and Bedworth
Borough Council, and work could begin in the next couple of months.
Warwickshire County Council senior planner Debbie Prince said that everything would now
move forward subject to the applicants meeting certain conditions.
"There were things mentioned in committee about measures that Greenway should take
to combat various things and they will be drawn up into a report in the next few
weeks", she said.
"Some of those will mean them putting their hands in their pockets to carry out
agreed traffic signal improvements and that kind of thing.
"But if everything goes smoothly then you could be looking at work commencing in
around two to three months time.
"Before the committee came to its decision on this matter they consulted noise
impact assessors, emission reports and traffic relief proposals – so everyone’s
view was taken into account."
