Dozens of campaigners came together at a carol concert in Locksbrook Road in Bath this week, stepping up their protest against the plans for a new waste and recycling centre and highlighting council leaders’ broken manifesto commitments.
Some of the carol singers at the protest | Photo courtesy of the Stop the Locksbrook Tip group
A formal planning application to develop the site in Locksbrook Road currently used by Bath & North East Somerset Council’s street cleansing activities was submitted in August.
Last month revised proposals were revealed to try to address concerns that had been raised but people were only given two weeks to respond.
The site is being lined up to replace the existing recycling centre in Midland Road in Bath, where there is planning approval for 176 new affordable and market homes.
The council has said the site at Locksbrook Road was chosen after more than 50 other sites within and around the city had been considered.
With the Locksbrook site decked with bows of fairy lights for Tuesday’s festive occasion, and with mulled wine and mince pies in hand, the community celebrated the spirit of the season while urging the council to rethink its plans and to deliver a centre that meets the needs of the city and its climate commitments.
Tim Wallace, chair of the Stop the Locksbrook Tip group, which organised the event, said: “As we approach the festive season, this is a time for community, solidarity and for standing up for what we cherish.
“B&NES’s silly plans are bad for Bath, bad for the planet and bad for our riverside community. Tonight’s gathering shows how determined we are to stand together on this.”
The plans for the new centre have attracted significant criticism since being announced, with almost 200 objections from local businesses and residents.
Concerns include increased traffic congestion and noise, impacts on jobs, growth and the local economy, flooding, and worsening environmental health.
Residents held a protest at the site in September, and last month several employers including Bath Spa University and Horstman Group wrote an open letter urging the council to abandon its controversial project.
The plans are also facing growing criticism for drastically reducing recycling capacity in Bath when B&NES had promised to do the opposite.
The Liberal Democrat council made manifesto commitments to improve recycling rates, prioritise the climate emergency and provide a like-for-like replacement for the site at Midland Road.
Objectors say the Locksbrook Road site is set to receive less than a third of the different types of material that Midland Road accepts so if people want to recycle many everyday items, they’ll have to rely on “unreliable kerbside collections” or drive out to the council’s recycling hub at Pixash Lane at Keynsham, adding to traffic, congestion, and carbon emissions.
Caroller Heidi Armstrong said: “We all know we need to be recycling more, not less. And yet B&NES is acting like the Grinch who stole our ability to do just that, reducing the types of things we can recycle from 31 at Midland Road to just nine at the Locksbrook site.
“This isn’t the like-for-like replacement they promised – it’s a complete U-turn on their manifesto promise to voters.”
Tim Wallace added: “A like-for-like replacement should be the bare minimum. We need a centre with room to grow, not a small, flood-prone site that fails to meet the needs of our city now, let alone in future.”
The council is due to make a decision on the Locksbrook proposals by 16th January.
