IS WESTBURY set to become a waste capital for Wiltshire? That’s the question being asked by local people as Wiltshire Council launch their consultation on where waste sites in the county are to be located – with three sites earmarked for Westbury.
The Lafarge site, West Wilts Trading Estate, and Northacre Trading Estate are all included in the consultation as “strategic” sites – possible sites for large and more specialist waste facilities, to deal with larger quantities of waste from a wider catchment area.
The consultation has highlighted a total of 14 possible strategic sites in the county. The three sites considered for Westbury are in addition to Westbury’s Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant on the Northacre Trading Estate. Construction of the MBT plant, which will treat 60,000 tonnes of household waste, is expected to start in August this year.
Possible uses for the three other sites of Lafarge, West Wilts Trading Estate and Northacre Trading Estate include:
• Waste treatment – facilities for the treatment of waste which could include mechanical biological treatment, anaerobic digestion, energy from waste.
• Materials recovery facility – collecting, separating, sorting and bulking a wide range of waste materials prior to transfer
• Waste Transfer Station – a depot where waste is deposited, sorted, bulked and then transferred.
• Local recycling – collecting, storing, and bulking particular waste materials prior to transfer, which can include metal recycling, car de-pollution, and waste electrical and electronic equipment facilities.
• Household Recycling Centre (proposed at West Wilts Trading Estate or Lafarge) – public facilities, where household waste can be taken for recycling.
The consultation was brought to the meeting of the Westbury Area Board last week. With waste coming from a wider geographical area, residents at the meeting raised concerns about the increased volume of heavy traffic to the area, particularly given Westbury’s history of campaigning for a bypass due to volume of traffic and air pollution.
A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said, “If an application for a waste management facility is received on any of these sites, including those in Westbury, then it will go through an open and transparent planning process. Similar facilities already in the area or ones planned for the future, as well as issues like traffic, would be taken into consideration. As with all planning applications, people would have the opportunity to object.”
Residents at the meeting of the area board also asked whether all 43 sites across the county would be used. A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said, “We must find sites that could accommodate state-of-the-art waste facilities which are both cleaner and cheaper than landfill. It is unlikely that all 43 sites across Wiltshire, which we have identified as being potentially suitable for waste management facilities, would be required or developed.” However, Geoff Winslow, team leader, minerals and waste policy, told the area board, “We would anticipate a good number of these sites going forward.”
What’s next for Lafarge site?
The waste consultation identifies Lafarge as a possible site that could be used for “waste treatment and associated landfill of residual waste”. It has also been identified as a site that could house a Household Recycling Centre, a materials recovery facility, local recycling, inert waste recycling/transfer (processing inert waste to produce aggregates), and outdoor composting (green and putrescible waste).
However, Geoff Winslow, team leader, minerals and waste policy, reiterated that there are no plans to use the chimney to burn waste, adding that there is an opportunity for the public to comment in the consultation, and that any plans would be subject to comments from the Environment Agency.
Last year, Lafarge announced that they were ending manufacturing capability at the Westbury works. Since then, Lafarge, Wiltshire Council, and other stakeholders have been in discussion regarding the future of the site. Members of the public have expressed their desire to see the area returned to its original condition. However, the Lafarge site is still operational, with a bulk and bagged cement distribution depot running from the site.
There will be a spatial planning exhibition at the Paragon Hall on Friday 24th June from 2.00pm-8.00pm. You can view and respond to the consultation through http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal, or hard copies are available at the council’s main offices and all local libraries.
The proposals come as part of Wiltshire Council’s “Proposed Submission Draft Waste Site Allocations Development Plan Document”, which is currently out for public consultation. The consultation considers a total of 43 waste sites across the county, consisting of 14 “strategic” sites (large and more specialist facilities in terms of scale and quantity of waste) and 29 smaller “local” sites for waste sourced from a limited geographical catchment.
Wiltshire Council say the plan marks a clear shift from a reliance on using landfill sites to dispose of waste, adopting cleaner and cheaper ways of disposing of waste. Due to the ever-increasing cost of sending waste to landfill, the council must adopt a plan which puts forward sites suitable for alternative ways of disposing waste. Wiltshire Council is currently charged £48 per tonne of waste it sends to landfill, but this is set to rise dramatically over the coming years.
