Waste sorting station planned at Telford landfill site
A new facility to sort household waste for recycling is proposed at a Telford landfill site, extending its life by up to 15 years.
A waste transfer station is planned for Granville tip, where 20,000 tonnes of recyclable material will be recovered from 60,000 tonnes of rubbish every year
Sita UK has applied to build a centre to receive, sort and bulk waste for transfer on to be reused, recycled or recovered elsewhere.
Currently about 40,000 tonnes per year of Telford and Wrekin's waste is dumped as landfill at the Granville site.
But European and national waste policies are urging the council to see landfill as the last resort and to look for waste prevention, reuse and recycling as preferred options. If the plans go ahead they would create 38 jobs for waste management staff, drivers and wider operations.
But Telford & Wrekin planners are recommended to turn down the application as the operations would remain on site 14 to 15 years after landfill finishes in 2025. They are concerned the plan would get in the way of the council's plans to extend the Granville Country Park.
The proposal includes a new steel framed metal clad building with roller shutter doors for the waste transfer station, measuring 53.3m x 32.5m x 13.25m. There would be a new vehicle workshop, site office and 32 staff parking spaces.
A new 10 space parking depot area would be made for refuse collection vehicles and a new mini roundabout would be put in near the site entrance off Grange Lane with a new one-way road system.
A report to the council's planning committee states: "The proposed development would have a negative impact upon the character, appearance and amenity of the green network, the wider local area and Granville Country Park."
It adds: "The presence of the proposed waste transfer station, workshop buildings and waste transfer operations at Granville for some 14 to 15 years after landfill tipping has ceased would delay the overall completion of the landfill reclamation proposals and the council's wider plans to extend the Granville Country Park."
It said that despite some localised environmental benefits at the site, there would be no significant community and environmental benefits arising from the development and no exceptional circumstances that would outweigh the protection and aims of green network. The report said: "The applicant has failed to fully demonstrate that there are no preferable alternative sites."
