Protesters will fight extension to landfill
Jan 24 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal
CAMPAIGNERS last night vowed to fight a new bid to delay the ending of waste tipping at a controversial Northumberland landfill site which has operated for 50 years.
Waste management company Sita UK is seeking the green light to continue landfilling at Seghill near Cramlington for another two and a half years.
Operations were due to end at the 125-acre site in December this year but the company wants to be allowed to continue tipping until June 2012 – because it is not being filled up quickly enough.
The move comes at the same time as a public inquiry is being arranged into Sita’s bid to expand the Seghill site boundaries, allowing it to operate for another 15 years and take an additional 4.3m tonnes of waste.
That application sparked a 5,000-name protest petition from nearby villagers, and was rejected by North Tyneside Council last year. Sita is now appealing and a public inquiry is expected to be held later this year.
Yesterday Sita said its new application to Northumberland County Council to extend the deadline for ending landfilling had no bearing on the separate issue of expanding the size of the Seghill site. But last night Lindsay Perks, chairman of the local No To Landfill campaign group, said it would be objecting to the latest application, on the same grounds as the previous one.
“All of the nuisances we have described from the site, such as traffic, noise, smell and litter, will continue to apply whether it is expanded or if the deadline for closing it is extended,” she said.
“Everyone has been living in expectation that landfilling would cease at the end of this year, but now they have applied to continue for another two and a half years.
“This is bad news and we will be opposing it. People in neighbouring villages have put up with this site for more than 50 years and are looking forward to relief from it.
“Sita has applied for this extension because it is not filling up the site quickly enough, which proves we are right in claiming there is no need for an expansion.”
Sita says over the last three years it has deliberately minimised waste inputs at Seghill while awaiting a decision on the expansion plan. It says delaying the end date to June 2012 would allow it to continue filling the site at the current rate, with no increase in traffic through local villages.
If it has to stick to the current deadline, operations will need to be intensified with waste diverted to Seghill from other sites.
Last night Annemarie Wilshaw, the company’s UK planning manager, said: “The reason we need this extra time is to provide continuity of waste disposal services in south east Northumberland while a planning decision is awaited on the long-term future of the landfill site.”
Sita’s expansion bid was approved by Northumberland County Council last year but rejected by North Tyneside. It required approval from both authorities to go ahead.
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