Pledge to fight Ketley waste depot plan
Determined residents pledged their solidarity to fight plans for a waste depot in Telford.
About 60 people attended a public meeting at Ketley Community Centre where they waged a war on Veolia's proposal for a waste transfer station.
Three representatives were chosen to speak out against the plans for Ketley Business Park when Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee considers the application in coming months.
Borough councillor Hilda Rhodes was appointed to talk on behalf of her ward members and Councillor Anil Saini for Ketley Parish Council, while Susan Huggins, who lives in Henrie Close, will speak out for residents.
The measures came after the parish council voted to object to the facility to transfer 40,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste per year at its extraordinary meeting on Tuesday.
Councillor Saini, who chaired the meeting last night, told residents the parish council intended to object to the scheme on the basis of inadequate parking, loading and turning space, highway safety, traffic generation, noise and disturbance resulting from the site use, hazardous materials, smells, road access and the previous planning decision for hours of operation from 6 am until 7pm.
He said: "If we don't raise our voice, if we don't get together, if we don't have our say, the council will say they are accepting it. No, we are objecting to this application and we want support from the planning authority to disapprove this application." Councillor Rhodes said: "I want you to pack that planning committee out, have placards with we don't want this in Ketley, whatever we need to do to make our objections known."
Barbara Evans raised concerns over traffic dangers posing a risk to children walking to school. And many residents expressed anger over the Pink Skips site in Rock Road, Ketley which has remained redundant since its closure in April.
Becky Wright said: "Pink Skips is still under offer so it could open its doors tomorrow so we could end up with two waste sites."
Ms Huggins said: "What Im worried about is at least four truck movements in an hour – their figures not ours. This is Monday to Friday and then Saturday morning. I am really looking forward to being woken up early on a Saturday with their big roll on roll off lorries. These lorries are enormous."
She urged people at the meeting to knock on doors and encourage people to send their objections by post or e-mail to Telford & Wrekin Council.
She said: "Veolia is not going to go away. All we can do is make their life extremely awkward, otherwise we are going to be stuck with it. We are the ones whose kids are walking to school. We are the ones who are going to be stuck in traffic on the way to work. It's going to drive us bananas."
