Compost plant plans to be decided by council today

More than 40,000 tonnes of local authority and commercial kitchen waste a year could be composted at a new plant in Norfolk.

TMA Bark Supplies based at Weston Longville, between Dereham and Norwich, wants to create the plant at The Runway, a former airfield at Woodforde Farm, Weston Longville.

It would serve canteens and kitchens from local authority areas including Broadland and Breckland as well as commercial waste, according to a report to Norfolk County Council's planning committee, which meets today to discuss if the scheme should be given planning permission.

Hockering and Weston Longville parish councils have objected to the plan, but officers at the county council have recommended it be approved.

The parish councils say the site is greenfield and the new use would be industrial and inappropriate, it would increase problems with odour, increased traffic and unsuitability of local roads, visual impact and noise.

However, the report says that despite the site being in open countryside, and against the county council's current waste plan, 'other material planning considerations' justify the approval of the project.

This would be subject to conditions relating to traffic routing, landscaping and surface water drainage.

Facilities would include a shredder, composting vessels, bio filters, an open lagoon and trucks to move the composting vessels, according to the report.

It would be operational between 6am and 8pm Monday to Friday and 6am to 2pm on Saturdays, the same hours as a green waste site already running at the site.

The report says it would result in a further nine lorry loads of material being brought to the site per day, 25pc by 44 tonne lorries and 75pc by 26 tonne refuse collection lorries.

There were no objections from the Environment Agency, Natural England, Broadland Council and the Highway Authority subject to appropriate conditions.

t To find out what happened read this Thursday's Dereham Times.