Bath & North East Somerset Council is being warned it will face a legal challenge if its controversial plans for a waste recycling site at Locksbrook Road in the city are approved.
The site that will be developed into the new recycling centre
The council-owned site is being lined up to replace the existing recycling centre in Midland Road, where there is already planning approval for 176 new affordable and market homes.
The Midland Road site will close once the new centre is operational. The council hopes that will be next autumn, and says that Locksbrook Road was chosen after more than 50 other sites within and around Bath had been considered.
But last week Andy Ridings, owner of Waste Recycling @ Bath Ltd at the former Fullers Earthworks at Odd Down, reminded councillors that his well-established site already has all the relevant permissions.
He said that in summer 2021 the council’s cabinet had unanimously agreed the Odd Down facility to be the only suitable replacement for the Midland Road recycling centre.
Mr Ridings told the Echo: “There is a modern waste recycling site sitting on the edge of the city, ready for B&NES to use.
“I am outraged that we have spent extensive time, effort and costs, to allocate our site for exactly the things that councillors are now proposing to build elsewhere.
“Our Odd Down site has all the relevant permissions for the waste they now suggest would be processed at the Locksbrook Road development and is allocated for these uses under B&NES’ own waste strategy.
“Because of this, we obtained further permissions and added new bespoke buildings to our Odd Down site and kept in close contact with the council throughout.
“They went silent on us last summer, and now have decided that unnecessary duplication is their big idea.”
He continued: “B&NES’ new development is flawed on so many levels, not least because it fails the so-called ‘sequential test’.
“This means the council has to demonstrate there is no other more suitable place for what they are proposing. But there is; there has been for many years; and they know it.
“They’ve been talking to us about using our allocated site for these very same purposes for years. They can’t feign ignorance now.
“The Odd Down facility is tailor-made to address B&NES’ future recycling needs and is operated by waste experts with many years’ experience.
“All the relevant permissions have been in place for some years, meaning there is no need for lengthy planning applications or enquiries to make any transition happen.”
He added: “If councillors go ahead with this ill-judged plan, we will bring a legal challenge.”
A letter of objection has been sent by the company’s planning consultants to the council. It sets out “flaws” with the council’s plans which include:
- The Locksbrook Road site is in an area at high risk of flooding, making it inappropriate for the type of hazardous waste it would need to house.
- The site is too small for the intended use. Selecting Locksbrook Road is not based on valid evidence relating to planning matters, but simply a result of the council already owning the land.
- It undermines the agreed waste strategy.
The Lib Dem-controlled council has received more than 160 objections to its plans for Locksbrook Road including the impact on traffic; the proximity to homes and the smells and noise that residents will have to suffer; that the plans fail to adequately address the flood risk; and safety concerns about the proposed model of using stairs and gantries.
It has also been flagged up that this side of Bath already has easy access to the upgraded and expanded Keynsham Recycling Hub, and that traffic from the east, the north and the south will have to come straight through the city’s congestion zone to get to Locksbrook Road.
The local authority’s street cleansing team are currently based at the site earmarked for the new centre.
They will relocate further along Locksbrook Road to the site that used to house the council’s fleet works and MoT test centre. Those services have already relocated to the new £41m Keynsham centre.
The site used by the VW dealership in Locksbrook Road, which it uses to store vehicles, is owned by the council and is included in the recycling centre plans.
The council has advised the dealership to “explore alternative arrangements”.
Four Lib Dem councillors – Samantha Kelly and Michelle O’Doherty, who represent Newbridge, and Paul Roper and George Tomlin who represent Kingsmead – have jointly asked for the proposals to be called in for the council’s planning committee to debate and decide in public, rather than delegate to planning officers.
A decision is expected in January.
