Residents meet to oppose waste plans (From The Bolton News)

Residents meet to oppose waste plans

9:29am Thursday 14th June 2007 in

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POLITICAL divisions were put aside as members of opposition parties vowed to stop a large composting site being sited in Bradley Fold.

There was standing room only as around 300 residents living in the area attended a public meeting in Dobbies Sports and Social Club, in the heart of the village, to voice their anger to the plans by waste management company Viridor and John Laing Infrastructure Ltd, which runs public sector buildings.

They hope to use land at Bradley Fold Trading Estate to dispose of kitchen and garden waste from homes in Bury, Bolton and Salford.

It is proposed around 50,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste will be collected from houses and taken to the site, off Radcliffe Moor Road. There, it will be recycled in an enclosed building to make compost material for use in land regeneration, horticulture and soil blending. The in-vessel composting facility would operate 24 hours a day, with the delivery and dispatching of materials restricted to 7am to 6pm on weekdays and 7am to 1pm on Saturdays.

Yesterday's (Wednesdays) meeting was organised by residents David and Jenny Crystal who live on Boundary Drive. It was chaired by Tory and local councillor Michelle Wiseman. Labour councillor Wayne Campbell stood in for Bury South MP Ivan Lewis.

Concerns raised at Wednesday evenings meeting included the number of lorries using the road, the affect the development would have on house prices and the unsuitability of the site.

Cllr Campbell said: "I am concerned about the proposals put forward. The land is owned by the council, and I believe if 26 out of 51 of the councillors say no this can't happen. That is democracy."

Cllr Wiseman said her party was backing the protest. She added: "People must fight for what they believe and they must be prepared to be in this for the long haul. I hope this matter will be sorted out before fairly quickly, but there a chance it could could drag on."