Residents angry as Telford waste site reopening

The former Greenway Waste Recycling site, in Ketley, is poised to resume operations after new owner Johnson Aggregates and Recycling Limited won permits to increase the amount of waste to be processed, along with permission for 100 lorry movements each day.

It has been at the centre of a long-running campaign to permanently halt operations at the site near a double bend, in Waterloo Road.

Now residents in the area claim their concerns over the operating hours, number of vehicle movements and smells have been overlooked.

In October the company dropped a planning bid to extend working hours from to 6am-7pm.

Marlborough Way resident Paul Nicols said: "Johnsons are now permitted to move 200,000 tonnes of incinerator bottom ash waste, with 50 HGV movements in and 50 movements out of site, carrying 28.5 tonnes each, 12 hours a day and eight hours on a Saturday.

"The HGVs will travel through a residential area with two schools, on roads that are totally unsuitable and unsafe for this type of operation.

"This will have a dramatic affect on children, parents and residents well being and the health and safety of those who live on the road and use it daily."

Mr Nicols claimed the views of more than 70 residents, schools in the area and two parish councils had been ignored.

Signs

"Residents have campaigned for several years against this site and that it should not be located in a residential area with no appropriate infrastructure in place," he added.

Johnsons has told Telford & Wrekin Council that the increased tonnage was caused by the wet state of the product on arrival and that it was non-hazardous waste. It has pledged to install signs on the S bend in Waterloo Road which is not subject to weight restrictions. The company also said resuming operations would create 15 full-time jobs.

Following negotiations with planners, the company has also agreed to reduce the maximum weekly number of vehicle movements from 600 to 400 and provide £76,000 towards new signs and road resurfacing.

It says once the centre is fully operational it hopes to be managing around 100,000 tonnes per year of construction and demolition waste.

Campaigners from the Lawley, Overdale and Ketley communities held a protest march in 2016 against plans by Greenway to expand the operation. But the business went into liquidation in January 2017.

After that, Nottinghamshire-based Johnsons was granted a licence by the Environment Agency to take it over with conditions. The agency will also monitor noise levels.

In 2019 St Georges and Priorslee and Lawley and Overdale parish councils objected to the plans, raising concerns including road safety and noise disturbance, but Telford & Wrekin planners recommended it for approval.