PLANS to install a Material Reclamation Facility (MRF) processing up to 100,000 tonnes of waste annually at Weights Lane Farm in Redditch have been recommended for approval by Worcestershire County Council.
The proposal, by the owners of Redditch Skip Hire and Waste Transfer Station, would see six agricultural buildings, which are in the Green Belt, converted into a site covering some 7,809 square metres.
Currently the Waste Transfer Station handles approximately 25,000 tonnes of waste a year, and officers say the new proposals would fall within Government waste management guidelines.
The facility, just under two kilometres from the town centre, would accept construction and demolition waste, metals, wood chipping and timber, waste electrical and electronic equipment, tyres, plastics and plasterboard.
The unsorted / untreated waste would arrive by skip lorry, which would be weighed on a proposed weighbridge.
All sorting, washing, crushing and chipping would take place within the buildings while waste that could not be recycled would be taken to landfill and treated waste would be moved from the site via skip lorries for further processing and recycling at other waste management facilities or for use in manufacturing.
Any recycled materials would be sold on a pre-ordered basis and on-site sales would be prohibited.
In addition the proposal would lead to the creation of about 30 addition jobs.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has objected citing development within the Green Belt.
Furthermore, the land lies within Bromsgrove district, and once that authority’s new Local Plan is adopted it would make it almost certain that housing would be constructed up to Weights Lane within the next 10 to 15 years and these would be affected by the HGVs travelling along Weights Lane and by the air and probable noise pollution caused by this proposal.
Network Rail has also objected due to fears of flooding the development might cause.
The plan is to be considered at the county’s Planning and Regulatory Committee at County Hall on Tuesday, December 6, 2016, at 10am.
