THE Lafarge site is one of three locations in Westbury that are being considered as waste sites.
However, officers from Wiltshire Council have re-assured residents that there are no plans to use the chimney to burn waste.
Geoff Winslow of Wiltshire Council told the meeting of Westbury Area Board last week that the chimney had been built for a specific purpose within manufacturing operations, and so would not be used for burning waste.
Geoff Winslow said, “We’ve looked at the site from a treatment perspective.
“It is in no way, shape or form on our plans at all to use the chimney or indeed necessarily to have what you refer to as an incinerator on that particular site. What we’re looking at is a range of treatment facilities.
“I must make it clear that the chimney is divorced from the issue of waste management on that site.”
Fears that the site could be used for burning waste were first raised last year after 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.
Wiltshire Council has compiled their draft ‘waste site allocations development plan document’, which outlines 43 sites in the county which could become waste sites, including three in Westbury.
The three Westbury sites are the West Wilts Trading Estate, Northacre Trading Estate, and Lafarge.
Cllr John Brady, cabinet member for economic development, planning and housing explained, “The idea is that we don’t actually want to take the waste to landfill because there are landfill taxes which are going up every year and we’re running out of holes to put the waste in. Therefore we want to actually process the waste so we can turn it into something which is acceptable, without destroying the landscape, and this is done through local waste transfer facilities.”
Possibilities for the West Wilts Trading Estate site include a household recycling centre, materials recycling centre, or waste treatment.
The waste site development document will form part of the council’s overall strategy, and a consultation on the plans will start in June.
