New metal recycling facility approved in Whittlesey despite concerns from residents and MP letter

Plans for a new metal recycling facility in Whittlesey have been approved.

The new facility will he housed within an existing building on the Saxon Pit recycling plant, just off Peterborough Road.

The operations of the facility will be storage, sorting, separation, grading, sheering, baling, compacting, crushing, granulating and cutting of and alloys to recover them.

The working hours will be 7am to 5pm on Monday to Friday with four vehicles per hour transporting materials from the adjacent Johnsons Aggregates Recycling Ltd site and a maximum of 18 articulated HGV’s per day.

There will be two full time employees at the site.

The facility was approved following a meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Planning committee on Wednesday (February 12).

Residents a number of concerns ahead of the meeting, including potential odour coming from the site, dust management, air pollution and harmful pollutants from vehicles.

The concerns of residents were echoed by North East Cambridgeshire MP and former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Barclay, who wrote a letter to the council expressing his concerns.

The committee did push applicants East Midlands Waste Management Ltd to involve the public more and asked that conditions relating to community relations and the need for a liaison group were strengthened.

The committee also asked for conditions and more clarity around data sharing, in particular related to site-based air quality monitoring results for both agencies and the public.

There are a number of improvement works, reports and actions which need to be completed before processing can commence. Also, there will be validation to ensure that promised noise and dust levels have been reached.

Following this, the application was unanimously approved.

Cllr Sebastian Kendersley said: “I would like a residents group to be included in the list of the attendees for the liaison group. It will only be a positive. Part of the problem with these sites is a lack of trust between the community and the operators. It’s down to us to do what we can to encourage the growth of trust.”

The meeting can be viewed on Cambridgeshire County Council’s Youtube page.