Bridport: £8m plans for new waste site unveiled (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Bridport: £8m plans for new waste site unveiled

9:56am Wednesday 31st October 2012 in Bridport By Anne Bell

Plans for Bridport’s long-awaited new £8m waste and recycling centre are finally being unveiled.

More than 15 years after the quest began to find a new site, the authorities have plumped for land at Broomhills off the A35 to the south-west of the town.

But even if planning permission is granted for the development, the waste centre will not open until the spring of 2015.

Traffic lights will be installed to stop traffic on the busy A35 to allow access to the site in a bid to allay safety fears.

Local people are being urged to study the proposals before making up their minds, but opponents of the Broomhills option still maintain it is the wrong place and will cause major traffic problems on the main east-west trunk road.

Planning permission to use the current South Street household waste recycling centre is likely to be extended and frustrated householders face another two years of not being able to dump their rubbish at weekends.

Local people will get the chance to have their say on plans for the purpose-built household recycling centre and waste transfer station at two public information days at Bridport Town Hall.

Doors will be open between 10am and 6pm on Friday, November 9 and 9.30am to 12.30pm on Saturday, November 10 when visitors will be able to view details and drawings of the proposed facility, speak to Dorset Waste Partnership staff and leave their comments via a feedback form.

Plans for the new centre consist of a purpose-built, modern, split-level household recycling centre (HRC) and a waste transfer station (WTS) to house recycling and rubbish in a covered building before being sent on for recycling or disposal, using some of the neighbouring nursery site.

The new centre would be instrumental in the introduction of the new ‘recycle for Dorset’ collection service in the west of the county.

Hilary Cox, chairman of the DWP Joint Committee, said: “ A viable site has been identified and a modern facility designed that will help meet the needs of the local area and increase our recycling while blending in with the outstanding local environment.

“I would encourage as many people as possible to pop along to the information days to see how the new facility would look and have their say.”

A Dorset Waste Partnership spokesperson said: “We are using some of the nursery site, but not the buildings or polytunnels. The nursery will operate as before.

“We will be submitting an application to extend planning permission for South Street as soon as the planning application for Broomhills has been submitted.

“The lights will be on the junction at the entrance to the site. Junction layout proposals will be shown at the information days.”

• What do you think? Write to Postbag, 67 East Street, Bridport or email: postbag@bridportnews.co.uk

RANGE OF IMPROVEMENTS

Dorset Waste Partnership says that the new permanent site, which has an estimated cost of £8m, will offer a range of benefits over and above the temporary South Street site.

• The larger facility would be more efficient and would reduce queue times and lengths. The DWP says it has worked with the Highways Agency to create access from the A35 using traffic signals and vows there would be no queuing on to the A35 during busy periods.
• The new HRC will be a split-level facility, eliminating the need for steps and making the facility accessible to all.
• A purpose-built, modern facility, it would be able to receive more types of recycling and waste than are currently accepted at South Street, such as wood and glass.
• The operational and public areas would be separated, making the facility safer and meaning the site would not need to close to remove full skips.
• Waste lorries would no longer need to travel through Bridport.
• The proposed site’s design is sensitive to the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which includes the whole Bridport area, and would include enhancement of the neighbouring Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) for local wildlife.
• The centre would be integrated into the landscape with the use of natural building materials such as wood and its footprint and height kept to a minimum to reduce its visual impact and low level external lighting to reduce light spill.

TIMELINE

•  The search for a new waste facility for Bridport area started in the mid 1990s with the closure of the Bothenhampton landfill site
•  The existing household recycling centre on South Street in the town centre opened in 1998 as a temporary site
• The site is due to close in 2013, after a number of extensions to the planning permission
• In 2009 and 2010, an extensive assessment of around 40 possible alternative sites concluded that, while there was no clear overall preference, Broomhills had the greatest development potential for successful delivery of the three short-listed sites which included Gore Cross and Miles Cross 2
• In September, 2011 the DWP Joint Committee and Dorset County Council’s Cabinet unanimously approved a report recommending the Broomhills site
• Detailed design of the new centre has now been completed and a planning application is due to be submitted in December, which would be followed by a period of formal consultation
• If planning permission is approved, construction would begin in summer 2013 with the facility to open in spring 2015.