Council urged to consider alternative sites for recycling facility

At last week's Powys County Council meeting more than 30 members of ACT (Abermule Communities Together) made the journey down to Llandrindod Wells.

Before the meeting they picketed councillors as they went past and into County Hall.

They also had the opportunity in front of the full council to ask three questions to the cabinet.

At the lunchtime break ACT was invited to meet with portfolio holder for highways, recycling and assets, Councillor Phyl Davies, Conservative for Blaen Hafren, finance portfolio holder Aled Davies, Conservative for Llanrhaedr-ym-Mochnant, and environment director, Nigel Brinn.

Steve Meadowcroft, ACT vice chair, said: “We were not prepared for the meeting but attended in good faith to get the sites we have found before the council and open serious discussions.

“However it soon became clear that the council had no real intention of engaging with any of the possibilities we had researched.

“We were left incredulous at the refusal by Councillor Phyl Davies and Nigel Brinn to accept that the redundant Industrial land we had found was actually for sale, despite our contact with the owners who confirmed they would be for sale if the right deal was on the table.”

ACT chair, Jeff Mathews, added: “I was amazed at the intransigence of the council to look at what we had brought to the table insisting that none of our sites met their criteria.

“We have details of what they are looking for and we have also looked closely at the [Welsh] government's technical guidance on site selection for these type of operations.

“They should be carried out on an industrial estate or hidden in redundant quarries and not placed in rural village locations.

“We did a simple desktop survey, found appropriate sites and contacted the owners.

“It's time for the council now to live up to its promise.”

Reviewing

Cabinet Member for Highways, Recycling and Assets, Phyl Davies said of the meeting: “The council met with ACT last week and is reviewing the suggestions submitted by the group.

“Officers are due to meet with representatives this week to discuss all options put forward.”

ACT put forward the GT Evans site on the Mochdre Industrial Estate, Newtown, as an option.

The group has also identified the former Cae Post recycling facility at Criggion Lane, Trewern, owned by Powys Council.

The facility which is for sale, closed in March, 2017, with the loss of 17 jobs after the Cae Post charity lost its recycling contract with PCC.

PCC has already dismissed Cae Post because of its location.

GT Evans site owner, Raymond Mathews said that he was happy that ACT were putting the site on the table as an alternative for Abermule.

He said: “I’m quite happy to have officers come and have a look around and have a chat about it.”

In December 2018 at a packed public meeting in Abermule the Recycling and Assets portfolio holder, councillor Davies gave villagers hope that the development might not happen if they could find a similar site so that the development could be moved there.

The controversial scheme was passed at a planning committee meeting in August 2018 by a single vote.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter