Residents’ delight as tip application refused

Liberal Democrats have joined with local residents in expressing their delight at the refusal to grant planning permission for an extension to the Arpley tip.

Planning committee councillors accepted their officers’ recommendation to turn down a proposed extension of the operational life of the Arpley Landfill facility to 2025 at a special meeting held at the Parr Hall.  For years residents and local councillors have battled against any extension of the site.

Great Sankey North Councillor Trudi Wood said, “I have been involved with this campaign right from the start.  I support the officers when they say it would be an inappropriate development in the Green Belt and there are no special circumstances to justify it.  The volume of traffic is completely unacceptable and has been a blight on local residents including those in my ward for far too long.  The dust and smells from the tip have messed up the quality of life of people and we have to put an end to it.”

Whittle Hall Councillor Keith Gleave told the Committee, “For Whittle Hall ward, my main objections relate to traffic on Whittle Avenue.  Twice lorries have turned over and emptied their loads on the highway and grass verges.  The remains were never cleared up and just left to bury themselves, causing a danger to wildlife.  Residents on the Avenue have frequently complained about noise and vibration from lorries.”

Cllr Bob Barr, a member of the Committee, expressed disbelief at the applicants’ apparent naivety.  “They cannot have failed to realise that the people of Warrington would not tolerate any extension to the operation of the tip.  When planning permission was originally granted for twenty-five years expiring in 2013, it meant precisely that – no extension.

Protests about the operation of the tip, the noise, the pollution, the traffic and the breaches of operating conditions must have been heard by the applicants who should have known that there were overwhelming planning reasons to refuse the application.

Yet they came to the meeting putting up a last minute legal challenge to some minor aspects of the handling of the application, rather than explaining how they would satisfy residents. That was because they knew they couldn’t persuade the people of Warrington to tolerate this noxious site anymore.  I am delighted that the committee voted unanimously to reject the application.”

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