A Bunny recycling facility could start accepting an extra 150,000 tonnes of waste each year if given approval by the council – but an increased number of lorries and operations has sparked local concern.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s Planning and Rights of Way Committee will meet on Tuesday (22 July) to discuss whether to approve extra waste going through Bunny Materials Recycling Facility, located to the west of the A60 Loughborough Road, near Bunny Hill Top.
The applicant and site operator, Johnson Aggregates, has submitted plans to increase the amount of waste tonnage currently going through the site per year from 100,000 tonnes to 250,000 tonnes.
The recycling facility – including the 100,000-tonne waste limit – was first granted permission by Rushcliffe Borough Council in 1994.
Inert construction and demolition waste is crushed and screened on the site, and incinerator bottom ash (IBA) recycling has occurred on the site for around 12 years.
IBA is a form of ash produced in incineration facilities that, once processed to have contaminants removed, can be used as granules for construction purposes. Existing permission allows 100,000 tonnes of this to be accepted each year, transported in on HGVs.
However, the site has been operating technically in breach of planning controls, with figures from 2021 and 2022 showing 177,000 and 156,000 tonnes of IBA, construction and demolition waste were processed at the site, respectively.
Two condition breach notices were issued by Nottinghamshire County Council’s enforcement officers in 2022 regarding exceeding the tonnage limits and the number of HGVs.
Now, Johnson Aggregates wants to increase the amount of waste accepted to 250,000 tonnes, alter the operational hours on site, and more than double the number of HGVs going to and from the site.
Currently, there are an average of 100 HGV movements a day in and out of the site – a maximum of 550 a week – but this could now increase to 240 movements in and out a day, which is a maximum of 1,440 HGV movements a week.
Rushcliffe Borough Council has objected to the plans for increased site usage on the grounds of concerns that increased HGV movements will have a negative impact on residents living nearby.
A planning document showing Bunny Parish Council’s objection reads: “The additional working hours, Sundays and Bank Holidays, and the increased haulage traffic will have a negative environmental and community effect on Bunny.
“Bunny Primary School playground is less than 3 metres away, and the school building 10 metres away, which is likely to compound health problems for the children in relation to ill health and impact on growth.”
Bradmore Parish Council’s objection reads: “The A60 Loughborough Road through Bradmore is already in a poor state of repair, and the increase in traffic from the proposed increase in operating hours will both create a noise nuisance for residents living alongside the road and exacerbate the deterioration of the road surface.”
Local concern has also noted the potential problems with increased noise, dust, and odour from the site if the facility is granted increased usage, with Bradmore Parish Council stating: “The blending of IBA and recycled aggregate can give significant dust emission particles during prolonged dry conditions.”
The applicant is also seeking to change the site’s operational hours, including accepting IBA waste on Sundays and public and bank holidays between 9am and 4pm, which was not previously permitted.
They also wish to update the dust management plan for the facility.
The increased throughput of waste and changes in operating hours would create between 12 and 15 full-time jobs.
The County Council’s planning committee will decide on this application on Tuesday.
