Community fears on planning changes for new recycling site
Plans to alter conditions on the granting of planning permission for a recycling bulking facility near Welshpool, have raised fears from the local community council.
Powys County Council won approval for the site in Abermule, subject to conditions that must be met before the work on the site starts.
Now it wants to alter some of the conditions, relating to possible contaminated land. Planning councillors were deciding whether to give the go ahead today .
The council says that the application merely seeks to make minor revisions to the wording of conditions.
But Abermule and Llandyssil community council has written to the planning committee expressing worries about altering the conditions.
The letter says that the conditions were drawn up to avoid exposing anybody on the site, or near to it, to health and safety risks associated with contamination matter, such as asbestos.
"Specifically, these conditions are to ensure that the site will not qualify as 'Contaminated Land' under the environmental protection act and contaminated land regulations.
"If approved it will permit workers and development to proceed on contaminated land before any recommendation to render the site safe has been carried out. Indeed it will allow development to proceed to proceed even before a proposed scheme to render the site safe has been prepared and approved in writing.
"This is wholly unsatisfactory position on health and safety grounds alone and therefore this application should not be approved."
