Waste site's 24-hour plan opposed by town council

A waste recycling facility's plans to expand its operations to 24 hours a day would have a negative "dust and noise" impact on residents, a town council said.

Johnson Aggregates Recycling Limited runs a construction and demolition (C&D) and incinerator bottom ash (IBA) recycling plant at the former Saxon Brick works in Whittlesey.

Cambridgeshire County Council, the waste planning authority, said the applicant wanted to increase the permitted capacity of the site to 614,000 tonnes of IBA and C&D per year from its current 250,000 tonnes.

The extension plans have been criticised by Whittlesey Town Council and Fenland District Council, citing the adverse effect on residents.

According to the planning application, the IBA is a non-hazardous material produced following the incineration of waste and is imported to the site.

The site stores, processes and recycles incinerator ash and is close to a storage facility, industrial units and housing.

Currently, 92 lorries a day bring in the C&D waste, but the extension plans suggest this could go up to 332 movements a day.

Whittlesey Town Council said it "strenuously objects" to the plans on the grounds of the "dust, odour and noise".

“The proposed variation would, amongst other changes, permit double the amount of IBA to be transported, processed and moved on the site," it said.

Steve Barclay, Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire and shadow secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is calling on the county council to reject the application.

"In light of complaints regarding the current operational schedules, it will be ill-advised to add to their frustrations by allowing operations at all hours," he said.

The planning statement said that, in order to ensure noise and dust levels were kept to acceptable levels, an ancillary lean-to building would be constructed.

Johnson Aggregates Recycling has been contacted by the BBC for a comment.

The planning application said the extension of the operations was expected to create 20 new jobs at the site, taking the total to 50 employees.

A decision on the application is pending.

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