A formal planning application has been submitted by Bath & North East Somerset Council for the proposed state-of-the-art waste and recycling hub in Keynsham.
A 3D view of proposed Keynsham Recycling Hub | Image © B&NES Council
Work will soon get underway at the site on Pixash Lane to secure unused areas and allow for ecology protection measures to be carried out during the demolition of existing and redundant buildings.
General site preparations are due to start next week, with building and superstructure removal works planned to begin the week after.
The local authority has said that local residents, businesses and other stakeholders will be kept informed of the plans and any disruption will be “kept to a minimum”.
The existing Reuse and Recycling Centre on Pixash Lane will remain open as normal during these initial works.
Feedback from a consultation in December on the proposed Keynsham Recycling Hub showed that 70% of residents who responded support modern facilities for efficiency and reliability of refuse and recycling collections.
The feedback from residents and technical officers has been considered by the design team, and the detailed planning submission will now test the up-to-date proposals against policy requirements and all other considerations.
Residents will now have another opportunity to give their views, and external organisations including Natural England, Environment Agency and Network Rail will be consulted.
One of the changes made in response to feedback is the inclusion of larger green areas around the Pixash Lane site, with more than 200 trees to be planted and hedgerows improved, reducing the visual and potential noise impact.
Councillor David Wood, joint cabinet member for Climate Emergency and Neighbourhood Services, said: “Thank you to everyone who took part in our consultations. We have listened to the largely positive feedback and acted on it in shaping the planning application, particularly in relation to providing more green space.
“The application has the ambitious aim of providing a state-of-the-art waste and recycling hub that meets future demand from a growing population, supports more recycling and helps us to tackle the climate emergency.
“We are also working hard on the proposals for re-providing waste and recycling centres in Bath so that the city will have uninterrupted access to recycling centres local to them. We will update residents on that in the Spring.”
Bath & North East Somerset Council has said that traffic control measures for access to the site will include large lorries being required to approach via the Broadmead Lane roundabout and Ashmead industrial estate, rather than the Pixash Lane junction on the A4 Bath Road.
The largest lorries carrying waste and recycling away for treatment and reprocessing will travel onto the bypass and ring road for the most direct route to the M4, avoiding residential areas.
As part of the scheme, the council is also planning to move to electric/hydrogen collection lorries.
The planning application reference number is 21/00435/EREG03.
