Plans to extend Biffa landfill site on outskirts of Peterborough rejected by council

Plans to extend a landfill site on the outskirts of Peterborough have been rejected by the council.

Biffa Waste Services, which runs Eye Landfill on Eyebury Road, was denied permission to add an eastern extension at a planning meeting this week.

Councillors said the company had “ignored” suggestions it finds a different route into the plant after concerns over increased HGV traffic were raised by planning officers.

Cllr Christian Hogg (Liberal Democrats, Fletton and Stanground) said he was disappointed no-one from the company attended the meeting so they could answer questions as to why they would “ignore officers’ recommendations to look at a different route into the site”.

Cllr Ishfaq Hussain (Conservatives, Dogsthorpe) added that this showed a “lack of consideration” for residents of Eyebury Road, which officers said they had made clear can't take on any further HGV movements.

Biffa said in its application that the expected number of daily trips wouldn’t change from the present rate of 180 two-way trips per day as infill on the existing site would be completed before work at the new one would begin.

But council officers said that Eyebury Road is “unsuitable” to take on the “additional HGV traffic" it believes is "likely to be generated" from the scheme.

They added that other schemes, such as a Biffa composting plant just off the road, were approved with the understanding that operations at the landfill site would cease.

PCC also approved a major expansion of Eye village last year, with more than 250 new homes planned on land around Eyebury Road.

If the extension had been approved, 220,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste would have been processed at the landfill site in each year of its operation.

The application was unanimously rejected by Peterborough City Council’s planning committee.