Second waste transfer plan rejected in eight days (From Bucks Free Press)

Second waste transfer plan rejected in eight days

5:02pm Thursday 9th August 2012 in Gerrards Cross By James Nadal

Burnham residents celebrate outside South Bucks District Council yesterday

A SECOND plan to build a waste transfer station in south Bucks has been rejected in the space of eight days – to the delight of campaigners.

A proposal was tabled by South Bucks District Council to make Dropmore Road Depot in Burnham a waste transfer site where lorries bulk up rubbish.

But its planning committee rejected it on Wednesday.

The decision, which went against officers' recommendation, was made at a stormy public meeting, littered with angry outbursts.

Last week, a similar proposal for Amersham was rejected by a Buckinghamshire County Council committee.

The council has already approved a waste transfer station at High Heavens in Booker, Great Marlow where rubbish will be bulked up before going to a new incinerator, in Calvert, north Bucks.

Resident Chris Hill, who lives directly next to the site in Dropmore Road, spoke against it at the meeting.

Mr Hill, a photographer, told the BFP: “I'm absolutely delighted it has been rejected. Because it was recommended for approval we were fearing the worst.”

Leading campaigner Carroll Bolden, of Chalk Pit Lane, said there had been much anxiety among householders.

She said. “I'm delighted, though I don't suppose this will be the end of it. We were expecting a big fight and this is a step in the right direction.”

There were 147 objections to the plan.

Concerns centred around the extra heavy vehicles travelling along tight lanes and the potential danger it might pose for nearby Dropmore Infant School, as well as extra noise.

Passionate residents, who packed into the meeting, made their feelings clear in a tempestuous debate.

There was controversy, in particular, that committee member Cllr Bill Lidgate, the Cabinet member responsible for waste, was allowed to speak to support the plan, even though he would not vote.

Officers said he was allowed to give his views, but this angered residents.

Chairman Cllr Jacquetta Lowen-Cooper threatened at one point that to make the committee sit in private if public interruptions persisted.

Andy Owen, senior planner at Biffa, the council's partner in the project, said there was already planning permission on the site for a depot and there were no restrictions on HGV along the road.

He admitted traffic would increase but said noise would be limited by restrictions.

It is possible the decision could be appealed.