Silent protest over waste transfer station plan, Teesdale Mercury

Silent protest over waste transfer station plan

Aug 28, 2002

TEESDALE councillors making a visit to the site proposed for a waste transfer station at Stainton Grove were due yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) to be met by scores of protesters.

Councillors were making the visit prior to today’s (Wednesday’s) meeting of the Teesdale development control (south) committee at which they will make a recommendation to the county council on the development.

Teesdale’s head of planning, Ken Hughes, is recommending that permission be given. Members of Stainton Grove Action Group (STAG) hope to convince councillors not to recommend approval.

“There will be quite a few people with placards and banners there,” said Ruth Renton, co-ordinator of STAG. “But it will be a silent protest – we’ve been gagged so far, so we’ll stay gagged.”

Teesdale councillors were due to visit a similar waste transfer station operating at Heighington before coming back to Stainton Grove to see the site there for themselves, said Mrs Renton.

At the council meeting today, residents’ concerns will be put by a spokesman, Peter Wilkinson. They are concerned about the traffic generated by the station, vermin attracted to the site and the fact that the other sites in Teesdale were overlooked. Badgers are also reported to be in the adjacent woodland.

The planning officer has advised councillors to recommend permission be granted subject to no damage being caused to habitats for endangered species. He is also asking that operating hours be adhered to, that a smell control plan be implemented, that regular litter picking must take place and that a pest control programme is instituted.

“We’ve had a terrific amount of support for this,” Mrs Renton told the Mercury. “People have been saying exactly the same thing – there’s been no consultation. The first time we get to know what the council officials are planning is when we read it in your newspaper.”