6:32am Friday 18th January 2008
By Reg Little
PLANS to build a £5m food waste treatment centre on the Green Belt near Yarnton has been given planning permission in the face of strong local opposition.
Oxfordshire County Council's planning and regulation committee was told of residents' fears about smells, dust and flies if the recycling facility went ahead.
But councillors approved the application for a plant capable of processing up to 49,000 tonnes of kitchen and garden waste a year.
The scheme has been submitted by Worton Farm Ltd, the owner of the land, and Chipping Norton-based recycling company Agrivert.
The seven-acre site on land between Yarnton and Cassington is close to the A40, within easy reach of homes in Oxford, Witney and Bicester.
Michael Gibbard, chairman of Yarnton Parish Council and Cherwell District Council's planning and housing portfolio holder, unsuccessfully called for a full environment impact assessment. He said if 50,000 tonnes of waste were treated, such an assessment would have to be held automatically.
Mr Gibbard said the site currently used a smaller-scale composting operation, adding: "We have already had first-hand experience of the odour from a plant like this.
"But it has been approved, and I will be working with Agrivert to try to ensure the environment around Yarnton is not harmed."
Cherwell council has objected to the scheme on grounds that it is an "inappropriate" development on the Green Belt.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears must now be notified about the decision. She has three weeks to decide whether the application should be called in.
Oxfordshire invited tenders in November from companies to build one or more plants to process food and kitchen waste, which it wants to see running within 18 months.
Harry Waters, sales director of Agrivert, said: "We understand the concerns of the parish council. But we would not be putting this forward if we thought that this would cause villagers any problems.
"We now look forward to offering Oxfordshire an important treatment facility in the forthcoming tendering process."
Kitchen and green waste would be composted in about 20 giant tunnels, using an in-vessel composting system first developed in Germany. The company built and operates a giant in-vessel plant at Edmonton, in North London.
The Yarnton site was formerly used by the county council to compost garden waste. All Oxfordshire councils now see a food treatment centre as a crucial part of a county-wide strategy to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and avoid fines.
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