Changes to the approved plans for the new recycling centre at Locksbrook Road have been signed off just five days after being revealed on Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning website.
How the proposed recycling centre will look | Image © B&NES Council
The changes include new buildings for staff near the gantry and a “slight repositioning” of the pedestrian access from the canal towpath.
Work is expected to start on the new household waste and recycling centre this autumn and it is due to open next summer.
The council will be spending just over £10 million to relocate the recycling centre from Midland Road, where planning permission has already been secured for 176 homes on the site.
The land at Locksbrook Road currently comprises the council’s street cleansing depot and an adjoining car park used by the local VW garage. The scheme was approved by the council’s planning committee in April despite 189 objections.
The council said Locksbrook Road was chosen after more than 50 other sites within and around the city had been considered.
But objectors to the choice of Locksbrook Road have said it will not be a like-for-like replacement as it will reduce recycling provision by 70% and capacity by 20%.
Other concerns raised include the flood risk, accessibility due to a gantry system, and the impact on the local business and residential community, including environmental health, traffic safety and congestion issues.
Three proposed amendments to the recycling centre scheme appeared on the planning portal on Friday 18th July.
The council had given itself until 15th August to decide whether to grant approval, but had done so by Wednesday 23rd July.
A note on the application said it was published for information only and not open for comments.
The council’s reasons for repositioning the pedestrian access are to “improve pedestrian circulation and safety; be closer to the cargo bike/ bicycle parking area; and provide space for pedestrians, particularly those wheeling a cargo bike/bicycle to turn to the left for bicycle parking”.
The site will have a gantry above the waste and recycling containers. The changes include an additional staff shelter/sentry box cabin suitable for one person on the north end of the gantry to provide shelter from inclement weather, and another staff shelter/cabin to the south end.
This one will be large enough for two people and a two-metre table and have a light inside. It will be used for sorting black bag waste out of the rain and wind. Both structures will be open on one side.
In their analysis, council planning officers said they were satisfied that the changes are “non-material amendments”.
Such amendments, known as NMAs, are considered minor, meaning they would not significantly impact the original planning decision or affect neighbours or the local area.
