SITA UK announced yesterday its disappointed at North Tyneside Council’s rejection of its planning application for an extension to Seghill Landfill site close to the Northumberland county border with North Tyneside.
The planning refusal means that the company’s plans to extend the area of landfilling and the life of its operations at Seghill Landfill by 15 years, are now uncertain.
"....... we are naturally extremely disappointed that councillors on one of the two deciding authorities didn’t accept the professional advice of their officers and were unable to see the benefits to the region of having the proposed extension"
John Grainger, SITA UK’s General Manager for the North East
Two local authorities are involved in the
planning application as the landfill operations are within the county of Northumberland, whilst much of the screening and landscaping together with the planned new access road, are in the borough of North Tyneside. Interestingly, on 29 July Northumberland County Council’s planning and regulation committee gave their backing for the plans.
SITA had planned an extension covering 19 hectares of agricultural land to the east of
the existing site and to shield the site from the surrounding area using a 49 hectare landscaping buffer zone.
The new access road was to to link the site direct to the B1322, which would have dramatically reduced the amount of site related traffic through the village of Seghill, according to the company.
The 50 hectare site has been used for landfill since the 1960s and is currently
operating to a planning permission that was granted in 1989. At that time the landfill had a life expectancy of 25 years.
Seghill Landfill is identified in Northumberland County Council’s Waste Local Plan as a key
strategic landfill site to meet ongoing disposal requirements, while the main disposal operations occur across the boundary from North Tyneside.
John Grainger, SITA UK’s General Manager for the North East said:
“This is a huge disappointment to SITA UK and this refusal will have significant implications for the company and the local authorities whose waste we handle. This is not a matter of a
company wanting to expand purely for commercial reasons, its about the regional waste
strategy and the need for ongoing landfill capacity in this region.
“We initially submitted our application in 2005 and, after all this time, we are naturally
extremely disappointed that councillors on one of the two deciding authorities didn’t accept
the professional advice of their officers and were unable to see the benefits to the region of
having the proposed extension.”
Mr Granger concluded, “The company has invested a great deal in its facilities at Seghill Landfill and we will have to consider our options for the future, which could include an appeal.”