Bridport: Reaction to £8m waste site plan for Broomhills (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Bridport: Reaction to £8m waste site plan for Broomhills

10:03am Wednesday 31st October 2012 in Bridport By Rene Gerryts

COUN RON COATSWORTH

• Coun Ronald Coatsworth said: “I suggested this site four or five years ago and I am very pleased it is going there. “I think it is a good site, it is away from people, it can’t be seen, and it is on a good road which admittedly gets a little bit crowded occasionally but apart from that that is the only disadvantage with it.”

He urged people who think the traffic is a major problem to go and see the exhibition and see how it would work.

He added: “That is why we are having an exhibition. That is why the county council is putting it on.

“We are really waiting now to see what the public think about it and about the entrance onto the main road.

“I understand people have a lot of fear and a lot of imagination in their fears but they really ought to go along and see it and try and judge it for what it is, rather than go there and say we don’t want it there so lets find fault with it.

“That is not a way to make progress.

“I have been at this personally for nearly ten years and more.

“It must be nearly ten years since somebody came to Bradpole with their set of slides and said this is what we are proposing to do.

“We ran out of forms to object to what they had to say because they didn’t want it at Gore Cross.

“I have always thought there were two places.

“One where it is going to go now and the other at Miles Cross, I thought that, with a roundabout, would have been just a good a place, if not better.

“The county council said it couldn’t go there because it was overlooked and there were lots of other objections but it is a missed opportunity as far as a roundabout at Miles Cross is concerned.”

DR STEPHEN ROSSITER

• TWO years ago Eype Recycling Committee (ERYC) chairman Dr Stephen Rossiter helped collect a 1,300-strong petition in less than two weeks to oppose proposals to build the waste transfer site off the A35.

Dr Rossiter and the group raised serious reservations about the effects having a waste facility off the A35 would have on traffic along the trunk road.

He said at the time: “The A35 is the heart and lungs of West Dorset. It is the artery that allows business to come to us.

“We oppose the development on the A35, and find it impossible to believe that an industrial site, which can only be accessed by the A35, will not be a detriment to the trunk road which is specifically designed not to be used for local traffic.”

 

WEST DORSET MP OLIVER LETWIN

• Oliver Letwin MP said: “There is, of course, no perfect place to put a waste transfer station. “But we do need one in the Bridport area, and I believe that this location represents the least of the evils.

“So I hope it will go ahead.”

DORSET COUNTY COUNCILLOR GEOFFREY BRIERLEY

• DORSET county councillor Geoffrey Brierley said it was no secret he was opposed to the site. He said: “I am sure from a technical point of view it is probably as good a site as you will find around Bridport.

“But I have always had an objection entirely on the location next door to the A35 bypass.

“It is one of the most dangerous sections of roads in Dorset. It is a speedy road.

“Because it is so close to the Crown roundabout and because of the congestion that you will always get in the sumemr I think that is going to be made worse by having a junction 400 yards west of the roundabout so people can turn into the waste site.

“Nobody has actually shown is what is the Highways Agency computer model for the effect on traffic of having those lights there and queues of traffic.

“That is my principle objection and there are a lot of people who feel as I do.”

SYMONDSBURY PARISH COUNCILLOR DAVID WRAGG

• DAVID Wragg Symondsbury parish councillor and former parish clerk said he would definitely be scrutinising the plans. He said: “I still consider it a very poor choice because it is a greenfield site, it is a road hazard, we are going to have more consternation at Miles Cross than ever before with traffic entering and leaving that site.

“We are going to have possible accidents from traffic emerging from the site.

“It is going to be a pretty grim picture all round.

“I am surprised that the Highways Agency hasn’t come outright and said you can’t do it.

“Flooding is very much in the news at the moment and it is on the flood plain. If we start getting inclement weather and problems like that the site itself will be flooded. I think it is a high risk site.”

Coun Wragg said better options would have been at Miles Cross with a roundabout or Gore Cross.

He added: “The reason Gore Cross was thrown out was the objections from people who didn’t want to be looking at it from across the road which was a pretty poor reason.”

WEST DORSET DISTRICT COUNCILLOR GILLIAN SUMMERS

• West Dorset district councillor Gillian Summers said: “I would encourage as many people as possible to come to the exhibition because many people put forward suggestions and ideas are covered by this and they can see what they can what they are before talking too much about roundabouts and traffic lights.

“It is in my ward and I have had concerns about it for a long time because it is a beautiful little area of wildlife. I will be doing my best to ensure that the wildlife and the environment is protected.

“I have also insisted they put in the local plan is that no other building can go on that site adjacent to or as part of the waste transfer site.

“I have insisted that a clause goes in the Local Plan which will also state that if the waste transfer site does not happen then it reverts to a conservation area and nothing else can be done there.”