Risley tip plan appeal rejected

1:00am Thursday 28th August 2008

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RESIDENTS are celebrating a local government victory after massive plans to develop the existing Risley landfill site were rejected after a lengthy appeal.

The 29-year-old site was due to close this October after Warrington Borough Council refused waste company Biffa’s plans to keep the site open beyond its contract.

A public inquiry opened at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in April after the waste giants appealed against WBC’s decision.

But a planning inspector has thrown out the appeal to dump more waste from across the north west after the Risley Landfill Opposition Group put up a strong fight on the 34 hectare site.

Inspector Ian Jenkins dismissed Biffa’s plans because of the potential damage to the green belt.

He said: “The landform extended as proposed would appear overbearing, creating a far greater sense of enclosure than the approved scheme, and this effect would not be reduced by the proposed planting. The impact would be high and adverse.”

The inspector said the sight and the sound of the M62 would be reduced if the plans went ahead and said an extension would reduce the long distance views to the north from the site’s hill. Mr Jenkins’s decision also considered the effect on the countryside.

Russ Bowden, spokesman for the opposition group and town councillor for Birchwood, said: “About 15 of us have been meeting regularly since October last year. We put forward a well argued case through the appeal. We thought we made a good presentation.”

He said residents’ lives would change because traffic and noise from the motorway would reduce significantly. He also said smells would disappear and the visual amenity would improve.

The hard work has paid off for the group, which posted around 30,000 leaflets and put up posters around the area in protest.

A Biffa spokesman said: “We have only just received the notification and we are going through it before we decide any further action."