A public inquiry is to be held into a controversial plan to build a waste treatment plant on Winwick Road, Warrington. The inquiry will take place at The Halliwell Jones Football Stadium on Tuesday, March 27.
The Inquiry follows rejection in 2005 of the original planning application submitted by Mona Developments, based in Douglas, Isle of Man. Councillors had voted unanimously to reject plans for the plant.
The plant would operate 24 hours a day for 300(+) days a year, handling a maximum of 10,000 tonnes of healthcare, hospital and veterinary waste every year.
A special meeting of the Development Control Committee was held in the town’s Parr Hall in front of a packed crowd of more than 300 members of the public objecting to the plans in July 2005.
Many of those people against the scheme, including ward Councillors and union officials, voiced concerns at the meeting over health and safety, traffic problems and the need for the plant, which would be based near to local communities in some of Warrington most deprived wards.
The application was rejected on the grounds of overwhelming public concern, traffic impact, and on the basis that the application was premature in light of the emerging Unitary Development Plan and changing waste policies.
Cllr Terry Whelan, Chair of the Development Control Committee, said at the time:
“The public concern this application has generated has been huge and we understand the points raised by the many people at the meeting. Every planning application has to be looked at on its own merits and this meeting had to be held so we could take into account all issues both for and against the scheme. However, we all felt that the concerns expressed by the public could be justified.”
During the meeting, officers advised Members of the potential difficulties of refusing the application and the possibility that the Council could have to pay the developer’s costs if the application went to appeal and the applicant won.
The Council refused a similar larger scale scheme on the same site in 2001. However, the applicant won on appeal.
This previous scheme did not progress as the Council refused to sell land it owns needed for access to the proposed site.