Protests force landfill plan to public inquiry (From Warrington Guardian)

Protests force landfill plan to public inquiry

A PUBLIC inquiry is to be held into plans for a huge £25million landfill dump on the doorstep of a South Cheshire village.

Protesters to the controversial proposals in Haslington made their feelings known at a county council meeting in Chester yesterday (Wednesday).

And despite recommendations to approve the plans, county councillors agreed to put the decision before the Secretary of State.

Borough councillor John Hammond, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of the villagers, said: "We are obviously disappointed they did not refuse the application out of hand, but are confident that we can win a public inquiry.

"The decision does recognise the significance of this issue and the fact that it is a major decision.

"I am optimistic that the inquiry will bring out all the inadequacies in the report and feel we can still overturn these plans.

"The Clayhanger Action Group has done a wonderful job. It has been a long campaign but they have really stuck to their task."

The Action Group is desperate to stop the creation of the 50-hectare dumping ground near the village.

And after receiving some 1,600 letters against the scheme, borough councillors gave their backing to the protesters arguing that environmental concerns, health issues and the effect on traffic in the area, had not been properly considered by developers Waste Recycling Ltd.

Residents from Haslington and Winterley insist the site will ruin the air quality with dust and landfill gasses, while attracting vermin such as flies, rats and gulls.

They say noise pollution and traffic congestion will be caused by the hundreds of visiting lorries.

Action Group spokesman Lee Allen said: "I am very hopeful as I believe a public inquiry will bring out more of the issues put forward by our consultants, which were not properly taken into account by the county council.

"I would like to thank all the residents who came up and protested outside during the meeting."

The plans would see the removal of 200,000 tonnes of clay from the Clayhanger Hall Farm site each year until 2019, to be filled with non-toxic waste from a number of sources.