issue 506 – Will Westbury be the Waste Capital of Wiltshire?

WESTBURY is one step closer to becoming a “dumping ground” for Wiltshire’s waste, after plans which earmark three waste sites for Westbury were approved by Wiltshire Council’s cabinet.

The Lafarge site, West Wilts Trading Estate, and Northacre Trading Estate are all included in Wiltshire Council’s plan as “strategic” sites – possible sites for large and more specialist waste facilities, to deal with larger quantities of waste from a wider catchment area.
There are 13 strategic sites marked across the county in the plan. Westbury’s three sites 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 already underway.
Cllr David Windess, Mayor of Westbury said, “It’s not fair and I’m not happy. It just strikes me that as far as Wiltshire’s cabinet is concerned, Westbury is just a dumping ground. Wiltshire is a big area, I’m sure they can come up with some other places.
“Why should the people of Westbury be treated with any difference to the rest of the county? We’re the tax payers that pay their wages so when are they going to start listening. Come on Wiltshire Council, get your finger out and look at the people you represent. Three sites out of 13 is an absolute outrage.”
Wiltshire and town councillor David Jenkins said, “Three sites is quite a lot. I’m disappointed not only personally, but for the people of my division and the people of Westbury as a whole. But everybody produces waste and it’s got to go somewhere and it’s unfortunate that these three sites have been chosen.
“I think at the end of the day you’ve got to question whether there would ever be three sites situated in a small town like Westbury; this is only a strategy not a firm document, it hasn’t gone through the planning or various stages.
“One thing they’re saying is that it’s our good highway network, but then the core strategy is pointing out that Westbury suffers from traffic. It seems ridiculous that on one side you say it’s suitable for traffic, then in the core strategy you say it suffers from traffic issues.”
Russell Hawker, another Wiltshire and town councillor agrees that traffic would be a major concern from any waste sites. “The proposals are for waste processes that are not environmentally damaging, as far as one can tell from the wording of the reports, especially given that the landfill processes envisaged at the cement works site are already established there anyway. It is hardly a surprise that a strategic waste site review ends up identifying an existing waste site as a potential waste site for more waste and waste processes. As far as I can tell, there are no proposals to re-use the cement works chimney.
“To my mind the main real issue worth focussing on is all the lorry journeys that would be generated and the need to upgrade the A350 to cope with this traffic properly and take it around Westbury with an appropriate bypass, which now can only mean a western bypass.
“I did not attend the cabinet meeting as there was no need and no point because the current Conservative cabinet decide the issues before the meeting and do not listen to anyone else who speaks, apart from some polite lip service anyway.”
Possible uses for the three 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.