Villagers shout rubbish at more-landfill ruling

Jul 30 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

FURIOUS villagers stormed out of a council chamber last night after controversial plans to extend the life of a 50-year-old Northumberland waste site were given the go-ahead by just one vote.

Angry scenes erupted after county councillors voted 7-6 to support an application by waste management company Sita UK to allow a further 4.3m tonnes of waste to be tipped at the Seghill landfill site over 15 years.

Members of the No To Landfill campaign, who have waged a three-year battle against the plans, labelled the decision a disgrace and told councillors they should be ashamed of themselves.

Much of their anger was vented in the direction of county planning committee chairman Coun Paul Kelly, whose vote ensured that the application was supported.

Scores of campaigners from the villages of Seghill, Seaton Delaval, Holywell, Backworth and Earsdon attended last night’s meeting at County Hall in Morpeth.

They say the site’s expansion will condemn them to 15 more years of smells, litter, vermin, dust, noise and traffic from a major landfill operation where tipping began in 1956.

Last night, councillors voted to accept a recommendation that there are no sound planning reasons to reject the expansion.

Planning officers say there is a need for more landfill capacity to serve Northumberland and North Tyneside, and Seghill is the best placed site to provide it.

There is still hope for the protesters, however, as the Government Office for the North East (GONE) has issued a special Article 14 directive preventing the council from granting planning permission.

The move, which follows a request by Blyth Valley Borough Council, gives GONE officials time to analyse the application and decide whether it should be called in for a public inquiry.

No To Landfill campaign chairman Lindsay Perks, of Whitley Bay, said: “I always believed that planning policies were to protect people.

“It is very disappointing, but we are still hopeful that when the Government looks at the evidence, it will see right and order a public inquiry to assess the evidence in full.”

Fellow objector Coun Bob Watson, from Blyth Valley Council, said a third generation of local people were now facing the prospect of having to live with a “mountain of rubbish” on their doorstep.

Sita UK’s regional general manager John Grainger said: “We realise how difficult it is for local people, but Seghill is a strategic facility and there is a proven need for additional landfill capacity.”

Sita’s parallel application to North Tyneside Council – the landfill site is on the boundary between the two areas – is due to be considered by councillors on August 14.

We realise how difficult it is for local people, but Seghill is a strategic facility and there is a proven need for additional landfill