Bath & North East Somerset Council is still waiting for the go-ahead from the Environment Agency for the proposed new household waste and recycling centre at Locksbrook Road.
An artist’s impression of how the recycling centre would look | Image © B&NES Council
The council has this week dismissed hearsay that work on the new centre has been pushed back to winter 2026.
The timeline on the council’s website is still saying that work on the new Bath Recycling Centre is due to start this autumn and open next summer.
The council will be spending just over £10 million to relocate the centre from Midland Road where planning permission has been secured for 176 homes on the site.
Although the council’s Pixash Lane depot at Keynsham has a new state-of-the-art household recycling centre and cost almost £42m, a political commitment was made at the time of the determination of that planning application in 2021 to provide a new, additional household recycling centre to serve Bath residents.
That was taken forward in the Liberal Democrat manifesto for the 2023 local elections.
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 planning committee in April of this year despite 189 objections.
A total of 19 businesses in the area had publicly opposed the scheme, including Bath Spa University.
Protestors outside the proposed recycling site on Locksbrook Road
The council said Locksbrook Road was chosen after more than 50 other sites within and around the city had been considered for the tip.
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 include the flood risk, problems with accessibility due to a gantry system, and the impact on the local business and residential community, including environmental health, traffic safety and congestion issues.
With an environmental permit needed for the new centre, the Environment Agency ran a consultation between 23rd April and the end of June. There were 13 responses, all critical of the plans for the tip.
Among them was one from an environmental scientist who said the documentation supplied with the planning application had been “woefully inadequate with no or little modelling or adequate risk assessments”.
The expert added: “From a professional perspective I would have no hesitation in recommending that the site was not developed as a waste site due to its proximity to the River Avon and the immediate residential and commercial premises and the inherent risks to human health, water and air quality and would therefore strongly recommend that no operational licence be issued.”
This week, an Environment Agency spokesperson told the Echo: “The application is progressing through the necessary assessment process.
“The team are working closely to address some outstanding technical queries to ensure the permit meets all required standards before it is issued.
“We are committed to determining this application as quickly as possible whilst ensuring all regulatory requirements are properly satisfied.”
