Corby bakery's large-scale expansion plans for landfill site

Bakeaway Ltd, which already has a site at Baird Road in the town, has applied to Corby Council for permission to build a huge new plant on land off Phoenix Parkway, behind the Napier Road industrial estate and next to the Genner Road car storage site.

Napier Road will be extended to form access to the six-acre site off the roundabout.

A planning statement to councillors submitted as part of a planning application states that there will be a ‘large number’ of jobs created by the company that makes a variety of pastry products.

Their statement says: “The proposed development will enable Bakeaway Ltd to expand their operations in Corby, ensuring the business can suitable grow without re-locating too far from their current premises within Corby.

“The proposed unit represents a sustainable expansion of the business into the heart of England.”

The news will come as a boost to workers at the seven-year-old company which was saved from the brink of closure just three years ago.

The land that the new bakery will be built on was an iron ore quarry until about 1900 and then dumping of waste from the steelworks took place there from 1930 until 1980.

After that, it is thought that the site was used to deposit rubble and industrial waste from the demolition of the steelworks although records from the time are notoriously sketchy.

Some areas to the north of Phoenix Parkway and Gretton Brook Road were used to bury toxic waste that is known to have caused birth defects in 16 Corby children as it was transported around the town.

A geo-environmental survey undertaken by Marcus Hanford of engineering consultants Millward says that the former ironstone quarry site has a long history of being used for dumping waste from the steelworks.

Their summary submitted as part of planning documents states: “It is considered the deep made ground/quarry backfill and landfilled material beneath the site has the potential to include industrial/commercial wastes which may contain elevated concentrations of metals, semi-metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, cyanide, asbestos, fuels/oils, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc.

“Furthermore, the deep made ground/landfilled materials have the potential to generate concentrations of carbon dioxide, and perhaps methane.

A more detailed investigation into the site will now have to take place before any permission is granted.

The site already has expired planning permission for industrial use so this application is treated as a fresh submission to the council’s planning committee. It is currently owned by Derbyshire-based Clowes Developments Limited.

You can view the plans and comment on them here