Dereham tip still on target pledge

People are being reassured that Dereham's long-awaited new household waste recycling centre could still open in the autumn despite the planning application being delayed.

People are being reassured that Dereham's long-awaited new household waste recycling centre could still open in the autumn despite the planning application being delayed.

When Norfolk County Council unveiled its plans for a �1m facility within a mile of the town centre last year the glossy leaflets given out to the public outlined a provisional timetable which included the submission of the planning application in November last year and the centre opening in autumn 2010.

And while the proposal is still yet to be submitted, the county council is still hoping to open the centre towards the end of the year.

A Norfolk County Council spokesman said the application was due to be put forward next week.

He said: 'The planning application for the Dereham recycling centre is complicated and technical as you'd expect from an operation of this nature.

'At the end of the year, new requirements for information relating to a whole range of issues - from lighting to sewage to welfare provisions - also came into effect, increasing the scope and scale of the application.

'We want to get it right first time, so the submission has taken a little longer than originally anticipated. We are still working towards autumn 2010 for the site, but this is, as always, subject to the overall planning process.'

The town has been in need of a new centre since the household waste site at Beetley was shut in October 2004. Currently people face up to a 30-mile round trip to waste sites at Ashill or Hempton.

Vacant brown-field land close to Roys and at the north end of Trafalgar Business Park, off Rash's Green, has been earmarked for the new facility that would become Norfolk's eighth main recycling centre.

Town and district councillor Robin Goreham said: 'I am pleased that they say the plans for the household waste recycling centre is still on track because it is desperately needed.

'But I see a similar thread developing to our famous bus interchange that we were promised by the county council about two-and-a-half-years ago and we still haven't got it. I hope that the household waste recycling centre is not going to develop along the same lines where financial year succeeds financial year and still we see no progress. Let's hope they are right when they say the centre will be up and running towards the end of the year because Dereham has waited a long while for this.'

Town, district and county councillor Phillip Duigan said: 'It is a facility much needed in Dereham. Hopefully it is just a case of dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's. When you submit applications you do need a whole lot more supporting information than a few years ago. The household waste recycling centre is vital for Dereham.'

t For more information on the proposed household waste recycling centre for Dereham visit www.norfolk.gov.uk/recycling

t There is a public meeting at Ripper Hall, in Docking, at 7pm on Friday, February 12 about the recycling centre at Docking which has been earmarked for closure.