South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | October | 14
From the archive, first published Friday 14th Oct 2005.
RESIDENTS are furious that a compost farm near Thornbury is being allowed to import green waste from outside the area instead of using "homegrown" material.
They claim the controversial composting operation at Morton Farm on Thornbury's Gloucester Road was given the go ahead on the basis that it would be handling only locally-collected waste.
And they are accusing South Gloucestershire Council planning officers of failing to reflect what councillors actually intended.
Residents were stunned in July when planning watchdogs approved the scheme to convert biodegradeable waste into soil-enriching compost.
Councillors gave consent for one year - and imposed 33 conditions - after being advised that the scheme's benefits for the wider community outweighed local concerns about pollution, public health and highway safety.
The firm was originally intending to take waste from "green bin" kerbside collections from homes in South Gloucestershire. But that was later ruled out when it agreed to exclude waste mixed with cardboard to minimise pollution and contamination risks.
Keith Woosnam, from the Thornbury Residents Against Pollution (TRAP) action group, said councillors had been told specifically that waste would be coming from civic amenity sites in the local area.
The firm's own planning agent had told the meeting that local composting sites were needed to deal with South Gloucestershire waste, he said.
"It appears that far from Sort It waste from civic amenity sites being delivered to the site, the operator is currently taking all of his waste material from outside the county," said Mr Woosnam.
"Apparently, because the waste delivered to the site has not been collected by SITA no monitoring has taken place by the waste management unit.
"We could now end up dealing with waste from all parts of the country. It will be much more difficult to monitor because South Gloucestershire does not have contracts with the delivering companies and therefore has no systems in place to record the volumes being imported onto the site."
Mr Woosnam claimed the clear intent of the committee - to allow a limited operation using locally-generated green waste - had been "altered" by planning officers.
"In our view, the basis on which councillors made their decision no longer holds true," he said.
TRAP has now written to councillors questioning who actually decides planning applications - elected members or officers.
Council spokesman Matthew Rees said: "The site is inspected on a weekly basis and there has been no breach of planning control.
"The conditions on the site require "no waste other than green waste collected from civic amenity sites" and the site operators have been in compliance with these conditions."
Louise Gill, spokesman for the composting company, said the conditions did not restrict it to waste from South Gloucestershire.
"We actually can't accept SITA green waste because of the cardboard which we are specifically prevented from taking," she said.
"We are quite open about the fact that we are bringing in green waste from neighbouring areas, although not massive amounts.
"The conditions allow us to do this and the planning department is fully aware. We have no idea why people should think otherwise."
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