Plans for new recycling centre in Northamptonshire village raise 'significant concerns' from councils
Plans to build a new waste recycling centre on land near Wollaston have led to objections from two parish councils.
Applicant DAKS Property Ltd is seeking planning permission for a plant specialising in processing waste into ‘high-quality’ pellets and flakes, which will be used in the manufacturing of new products.
Wollaston Parish Council objected to the proposal that would be built on approximately 2.46 hectares of land around one kilometre to the west of Wollaston, opposite Main Road linking Wollaston to Grendon.
A spokesman said: “After careful consideration, the Parish Council has formally objected to this application. While we support appropriate recycling and sustainable waste management in principle, we have significant concerns (as should the village as a whole) about the proposed location and scale of this development.
"The parish council will continue to represent the views of the community and keep residents informed of any developments.”
The proposed site would include the provision of an office building, concrete surfacing, new site access from Hardwater Road and ‘soft landscaping enhancements’, and would be built on land to the immediate north of the former recycling centre, which closed in May 2017.
Developers say the centre would hold around 15 to 20 employees per shift, creating job roles in the area and ‘provide the opportunity for future employment.’
Grendon Parish Council also objected to the plans, on the grounds of the application being ‘vague’ on the exact details of operational activities on-site, as well as it being built on a known flood-prone area.
The council also says traffic on the surrounding rural lanes could be significantly affected by the volume of HGVs using the site, and believe the application ‘underestimates’ the prolonged impact it will have.
A letter reads: “Grendon Parish Council strongly objects to this planning application and requests that our concerns be submitted to the planning committee decision panel for consideration when deciding on this application.
"The proposal represents an inappropriate land use for a sensitive flood-prone site, introduces unacceptable flood risk through non-permeable surfacing, increases pressure on already inadequate rural roads, and conflicts with adopted planning policy.”
An accompanying transport statement notes that the site is predicted to generate around 13 to 15 vehicles in the morning during staff arrival and in the evening for staff departures, which the applicant says is ‘negligible’ and outside of the usual traffic peak.
They also say the site will generate two, two-way HGV movements per hour, which is considered to have ‘no impact’ on the local network.
The statement concludes that there are ‘no valid transportation reasons’ why the development shouldn’t go ahead.
The full planning application (NN/24/00021/WASFUL), including accompanying documents, can be found online here.