Council scraps list of waste sites to give more flexibility

The plan, which goes out for consultation next week, is the latest stage in a process designed to identify possible sites for managing waste in West Sussex for the period up to 2016. Comments are due back to the council early in December.

The council began discussions in 2000 for a new Waste Local Plan to be adopted in 2006. Initially a list of 48 sites for a variety of waste management measures was published. Last year's Draft Plan then included 30 sites or 'search areas' for potential sites.

The revised plan will go out for consultation next week, but 'search areas' will no longer be identified. This, said the council, was so that “the waste industry can look for suitable sites in a wider range of locations”.

Anxious

Steve Waight, West Sussex councillor for strategic planning and environment said: “A great deal of technical work goes into producing a waste plan and we have also been anxious to ensure the fullest possible consultation with residents because their support for our policies is essential.”

The council said that it wanted to encourage small-scale waste facilities to meet local needs without identifying specific sites.

Earlier this year the council launched a 25 year recycling contract with Viridor which will see millions of pounds of investment in recycling facilities. The council says the new sites will be for the treatment of residual waste, and a separate contract for waste disposal is expected.

The revised plan stresses that previously identified sites in Washington and in Pyecombe are not now seen unsuitable. But, it said, there will be a new criteria-based policy against which new proposals for waste sites will be judged.

“This is designed to allow greater flexibility to meet the growing needs for sites to support existing and new waste reduction and waste management initiatives,” said the council.

Retained

However four larger sites have been retained in the proposal as potentially suitable sites for sorting and transfer stations. These are Warnham Brickworks near Horsham, Portfield near Chichester, and the Shoreham Cement Works. Several sites for landfill space, which is low in this area, have also been retained.

The council is not looking at specific methods of treatment yet, but earlier this year Mr Waight announced that incineration would not be included in the Plan and would only be looked at after 2016 as a “last resort”.