Council listens to fears on waste management proposals

Reporter: Ask Bury
Date online: 16 June 2007

Bury Council has spoken out for the first time about the proposals to introduce facilities at a site in Bradley Fold which aims to dispose of kitchen and garden waste from homes across Greater Manchester.

The nine authorities in Greater Manchester have agreed to privately finance an initiative with Viridor Waste Management to dispose of refuse for 25 years within the Greater Manchester area. This is the largest public sector contract ever issued in Europe and will involve the supply of radical new technology to recycle the vast majority of Greater Manchester waste into raw materials for further use.

This involves the distribution of appropriate depots in parts of Greater Manchester and the nine authorities are committed to supporting the waste disposal agencies and Viridor in this process. However, each site needs to be considered on its own merits. There is currently a proposal to site an anaerobic unit to take biodegradable household waste and make it into compost material for use in land regeneration and horticulture.

Viridor and John Laing Infrastructure Ltd is currently consulting with local people on the proposition prior to the submission of planning application and local people have voiced some concern over the proposal. Viridor are considering those objections.

Bury Council, both as planning authority and owner of the site, is also considering what has been said by local people and will need to balance that argument against the needs associated with waste disposal over the next quarter of a century.

Council Leader Bob Bibby said: "It is well known that the Conservative Party has recently taken control of the council and in just six short weeks is still having to consider a whole range of issues that have been the policy of the previous administration, "he continued, "The Conservatives are totally committed to the recycling agenda but we need to consider each of the proposed sites on their own merits. We have promised to be a listening council and that is exactly what we are doing."