ESSEX: Waste management centre finally gets the go-ahead
PLANS for a dedicated recycling and waste management centre have finally been given the go ahead – ending decades of uncertainty. Great Dunmow residents will benefit from a new facility which will become a central point for recycling household waste. The
PLANS for a dedicated recycling and waste management centre have finally been given the go ahead - ending decades of uncertainty.
Great Dunmow residents will benefit from a new facility which will become a central point for recycling household waste.
The acceptance of the planning application has been welcomed by the towns' county councillor Susan Barker.
She said: "We still have a long way to go because land needs to be compulsory purchased. But we have been waiting for this since around 1976 so to finally get planning permission is brilliant news."
The centre will be located behind the ambulance station at Hoblongs junction, adjacent to the Travelodge hotel at the southern edge of the town.
It will also include a waste transfer and bulking station to separate trade and household rubbish, and will double as a new site to house the district's bin lorries, taking them away from the old district council offices in the High Street.
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However, the plans have caused controversy; concerns have been raised about traffic capacity around the junction on Chelmsford Road which is near breaking point.
The possibility of traffic lights caused an outcry from residents at Dunmow's annual town meeting in March 2009 and as a result Essex County Council conducted a search for an alternative site.
That proved fruitless. But the council has agreed to try and compulsory purchase land to make large-scale junction improvements including a roundabout.
Junction improvements will come as no comfort to homeowners who live nearby though. John Hockley owns a house just feet from the site and has been particularly vocal in his objections throughout the planning process.
He said: "Our house price has plummeted and we are just stranded here next to a rubbish tip, we are still urging the council to buy us out.
"They just don't listen. It will come up right to the edge of our back garden and will ruin our home life."
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