The plant has arrangements to sort 8,000 tonnes of material a year from Rugby borough council and 10,000 tonnes a year from Stratford-upon-Avon district council. The development at the 37-acre site of a former slaughterhouse is also set to become the head office for Pure Recycling Ltd.
However, according to Pure Recycling's managing director, Nik Spencer, the project suffered “due to the current economic situation” leading the company to establish a temporary facility on the site along with four temporary accommodation units, and the firm sought retrospective planning permission to regulate activities on the site.
Mr Spencer also said the company introduced an interim measure of sending some material to Greenstar UK's MRF at Aldridge near Birmingham, although it said this arrangement had now ceased.
Enforcement
The application for retrospective planning permission for a temporary building at the Ettington site was submitted to Warwickshire county council in August 2009, but has come under scrutiny from the council, which has now issued four planning enforcement notices.
The council claims that the use of a temporary building on the site is “unlawful” and it is required to be removed, while three steel-framed structures with canvas roofs on the site are “unreasonably prominent”.
In addition, the council claims four temporary accommodation units on the site are “unacceptably detrimental to the visual amenity of the rural area”.
The council said the original permission for the site was for the development of a “new build, high quality, fully insulated permanent building” and the developments equated to a ‘change of use' for the site.
In the enforcement action documents, the council states: “The [new materials recycling] facility has not been erected in accordance with any of the Permissions and, therefore, no permission has been implemented so as to authorise a change of use.”
The enforcement notice adds, in relation to the claim that Pure changed the use of the site, that “local amenity, including the amenity previously enjoyed by neighbouring residents had been adversely affected to an unacceptable degree by noise, light, litter and general disturbance”.
A local resident told letsrecycle.com that neighbours to the site had reported “problems with noise and litter blowing across the countryside” and said this could potentially damage famers' crops.
Pure
The firm said it was seeking alternative funding avenues for the project and was currently near financial close, with hopes of having the site operational by summer 2010.
Nik Spencer, managing director of Pure Recycling, said: “We are all very excited about the forthcoming announcement, which will clarify any issues surrounding the MRF. Construction will start shortly on the main MRF building.
“We are undergoing due process with our planning applications, which do not affect the overall development schedule. All of our contracts with local authorities have been completely unaffected by the events of the last 12 months.”
Retrospective
Pure said that its retrospective planning application submitted to the county council should be considered by Warwickshire before enforcement action was taken against the Ettington site.
In addition, Pure claimed that there was not a breach of planning controls at the site, as it originally received planning permission to store, sort and transfer waste from the site, and branded the enforcement action as “excessive” considering the fact it had applied for retrospective planning.
However, in the accompanying documents with the enforcement notice, the county council said it did not consider that planning permission should be given.
The application for retrospective planning permissions is set to be considered at Warwickshire county council's January 19 2010 planning committee meeting, where Pure is set to seek the temporary retention of its temporary structures, to alter the hours of operation and seek permission for landscaping work on the Ettington site.
One industry expert told letsrecycle.com that they “fully expect the site to be built” and added that it would cause “difficulty if it didn't come through” due to the lack of recycling facilities in the Midlands.
Councils
Despite the enforcement action, both Rugby borough council and Stratford-upon-Avon district council have said that they are both sending material to the Ettington site – since temporary arrangements with Greenstar have ceased.
Rugby committed to sending material to the plant in November 2008 as a precursor to an overhaul of its recycling system in April 2009 – which saw the local authority replace its kerbside sort system with a three-bin, commingled collection of dry recyclables (see letsrecycle.com story).
Commenting on the enforcement action, Rugby said it was continuing to send material to the Ettington site.
Sean Lawson, head of environmental services at Rugby, told letsrecycle.com: “Pure have responded to the changes that the economic climate has made to their plans and ensured that the material from Rugby and others has continued to be processed, without impact to our residents and ensuring the highest quality outputs for the recycling industry. “
Mr Lawson said that the temporary site had placed Pure “in a difficult situation regarding planning”, but was reassured by the fact it had submitted applications to Warwickshire county council to regularise its temporary activities.
Kerbside
Stratford-upon-Avon has also undertaken an overhaul of its kerbside recycling service, with a move from kerbside sort to commingled collections. This scheme was extended further this month (December 1) to allow residents recycle mixed plastics and aluminium foil.
A spokeswoman for Stratford-upon-Avon confirmed that the council was also still sending material to the Ettington facility despite the impending enforcement action, where it was being “bagged and sent elsewhere” to be sorted.
She told letsrecycle.com: “We are still getting credits to say we are recycling and we are getting figures that show we are recycling, so it isn't affecting anything to do with our contract.”
Register for free to comment