Recycling centre work delayed

Chris HillWork on Dereham's long-awaited �1m recycling centre will start later than anticipated - but county waste officials said the state-of-the-art facility would be worth the wait.Chris Hill

Work on Dereham's long-awaited �1m recycling centre will start later than anticipated - but county waste officials said the state-of-the-art facility would be worth the wait.

Planning permission was granted in June to create Norfolk's eighth main recycling centre at Trafalgar Business Park, off Rash's Green, which would deal with 6,000 tonnes of waste per year.

The town has been in need of the service ever since the household waste site at nearby Beetley closed in October 2004.

Norfolk County Council is finalising planning conditions for the project and expects construction work for the site to begin by the end of the year.

Daniel Jacobs, the council's waste infrastructure manager, said the delay to the start date was because a consultation into the scheme had been extended to consider people's views.

He said: 'The construction start date for the planned Dereham Recycling Centre is slightly later than we'd originally hoped for. This is mainly down to a slightly extended planning and consultation process which, quite rightly, considered the views that people expressed during this time, particularly in relation to traffic and highways.'

'We are hopeful that by spring/summer next year, residents in and around Dereham will be able to take full advantage of brand new, best practice recycling facilities.'

The increase of traffic entering the site from Yaxham Road had been one of the main sources of concern raised by businesses and road users.