02 June 2008
A STORM of opposition has blown up over plans to build an asbestos waste site just yards from homes.
Aspect Contracts has submitted a planning application to Derbyshire County Council for a 'waste transfer station' on Whitting Valley Road, Whittington Moor in Chesterfield.The Essex-based firm has earmarked the former Haydon Concrete depot to store construction and demolition rubbish before moving it on to landfill tips. Uncontaminated waste would be taken to recycling centres.
The plan has alarmed and angered residents who fear it could endanger their health. They have launched a campaign to stop the development going ahead.
The Residents Against Asbestos Waste - or RAAW - campaign says as much as three-quarters of the waste will contain asbestos.
Chesterfield councillors have already unanimously recommended to Derbyshire County Council that the plan be rejected as "the site is not considered to be an appropriate site for waste transfer uses because of its proximity to residential properties", and Chesterfield MP Paul Holmes has also slammed the plans.
He said: "I simply cannot understand why anyone would choose to locate such a site not only very close to a residential area and a children's play area, but in a flood zone at the centre of a large urban population."Every single lorry load of asbestos contaminated waste - 7,000 tonnes of material a year - would have to be trucked through the streets of Chesterfield, with its 100,000 plus population, and then out again."
In its application the company says an estimated 73 per cent of stored material would contain asbestos and the remaining 27 per cent would be non-hazardous household, construction and industrial waste.
Proposed lorry routes could include Whitting Valley Road, Whitting Hill Road, Chesterfield's ring road, the A61, the A617, the M1 motorway and Chatsworth Road.The company claims the operation would be completely safe, with waste in enclosed lockable containers sealed at all times while not in use. They say the development would fulfil a waste management need as the only one of its type in the area, and that it would reduce landfill. An Aspect spokesperson said: "All asbestos waste is inspected and packaged and sealed in accordance with legislation and, as a result, no escape of waste, dust or debris occurs."The application is due to be heard by Derbyshire County Council in the next few weeks.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Storm-over-asbestos-waste-site.4139409.jp
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