Environmental campaigners have criticised a decision to allow a new asphalt plant that local residents fear will be a danger to public health.
Members of North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee last week gave the go-ahead for the facility at Allerton Waste Recovery Park, beside the A1(M) between junctions 47 and 48.
The application was submitted by Tynedale Roadstone Ltd, which said the plant would reuse a by-product from the adjacent waste recovery plant to make road surface products.
The plans attracted significant criticism however with the council receiving more than 200 objections from local residents, parish councils and local MPs.
A petition against the scheme containing more than 1,000 signatures was also handed in.
Critics of the plans raised a wide range of concerns, including fears over pollution, dust, noise, smells, ground contamination and traffic problems.
Campaign group Communities Against Toxins (CATs) had also called for the application to be rejected, describing the scheme as “an environmental disaster waiting to happen”.
After the meeting, the group criticised the decision to approve the plant, saying there had been confusion at the meeting over how the facility would be regulated and monitored.
Members of the group are also unhappy that the applicant’s pollution record at its plant at Barton, near Scotch Corner, was not discussed, with council records showing the facility failed a particulate matter test in January this year.
Michael Emsley, from CATs, said:
“What the community got is something that it was acknowledged will be polluting, by a company known to have recently polluted, that will be bad for the community.
“But somehow it was voted through anyway. I feel that neither the officers nor councillors fully understood how regulation works for asphalt plants, nor did they understand what conditions they could impose, and that significantly limited their ability to effectively mitigate harm.”
During the meeting, Councillor Arnold Warneken questioned why the council was supporting a plant to make hot mix asphalt when an alternative, warm mix asphalt, was considered to be better for the environment.
He also queried claims that the plant would use waste from the nearby incinerator when the operator, Thalia, had confirmed that only initial talks about the potential partnership had taken place.
But several councillors at the planning meeting spoke in support of the application, which had been recommended for approval by council officers.
Councillor John McCartney said:
“I’ve read the report and I thought the officer’s presentation was excellent and informative, and I’ve listened to residents’ objections and other speakers and I cannot see any strong material planning reasons for refusing this.”
Councillor Roberta Swiers said the road links meant the site was a good location for the plant.
She added:
“It is a decent site when you can get straight onto a motorway or a major road without having to go through villages.
“I don’t think there’s anywhere that would really want this, but if in the future we need this asphalt, we need to be moving on with it really.”
The application was approved by eight votes to three with one abstention.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted Tynedale Roadstone for a response.
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