A waste recycling site in Harworth has been allowed to double its tonnage from 75,000 to 150,000.
Luna Waste Services is a metal and aggregate materials recycling facility in Glassworks Way, Snape Lane, Harworth. It currently processes 75,000 tonnes of non-hazardous construction waste each year.
Applicant Ashley Barrett applied to Nottinghamshire County Council to double this to 150,000 and this was approved by the authorities Planning and Rights of Way Committee on Tuesday (September 16).
The approved proposals also means HGV movements in and out of the site will increase from 160 to 308 – the council’s highway team noted its concerns for ‘rat-running’ through smaller towns and villages such as Harworth-Bircotes and Tickhill in the planning document.
Ahead of the meeting, residents sent 21 objection letters over the plans regarding noise, increased traffic, odour, waste leaving the site, and operational hours.
A previous application back in July 2024 to increase tonnage to 100,000 was withdrawn following issues raised by council officers regarding increased noise and traffic.
The operator later received five condition breach notices in October 2024 relating to dust, operational hours, HGV numbers, waste types and the amount of material being accepted on site.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the committee heard the statement from nearby resident, Lee Holmes, read out, which said: “My family and I already experience significant problems living near the site. The smell and odour from the plant have in the past regularly prevented my children from playing in the garden, especially during warmer weather.”
During the meeting’s debate period, councillors reiterated the previous condition notices served to Luna, ongoing odour complaints, the potential for ‘rat-runs’, needing tonnage, traffic and waste monitoring and increased operational noise on site.
Regarding the previous breach notices served to Luna, a spokesperson for the operator told the meeting a “completely new management team” has been brought in to uphold “proper” standards.
Jonathan Smith, Development Management Team Manager at the council, reassured the committee various conditions attached to the plans to expand the site’s operations will help to mitigate any potential issues.
He said one condition allows the authority to “seek additional noise assessment” in the case of a justifiable noise complaint to the council and “monitoring officers will visit the site several times a year to ensure compliance”.
Another condition ensures material-separating trommels – considered the noisiest equipment on site – are “enclosed to some extent” and other conditions ensure the operator keeps a log of all HGV movement information, adheres to dust management and any odorous waste “shall be removed immediately upon receipt and placed in a sealed airtight storage container skip for storage which will thereafter be removed from site within 72 hours of its delivery condition”.
Jaspreet Lyall, Legal Advisor at the council, reminded the committee that based on the National Planning Policy Framework, councillors need to consider “do these conditions work?” in the event that an operator could potentially appeal a rejection decision.
He said: “If [it is viewed] that the council’s conduct as unreasonable in any appeal, in that the appeal only exists because the council didn’t consider reasonable conditions, they can impose a costs award against the council.”
Councillor Sam Smith (Con) said he believed “the conditions won’t work because they’ll be ignored” based on the operator’s “historic behaviours”.
He said: “That is what we need assurance of today. What will that enforcement action look like if there was another breach? What is the strongest action we can legally take as a planning authority? How quickly can we do it?”
Jonathan Smith responded: “Concerns have been brought to our attention in the past which led to us serving those five breach of condition notices… since then our observations from numerous site visits is that operations on site have been operating broadly in accordance with the extant permission.
“That does show the powers we have can result in positive changes when issues are raised with us.”
Mr Lyall said criminal prosecution and a fine can take place in the event of any breaches of conditions.
Councillor Hana John (Ref) noted early in the meeting that the operator had been “fairly dismissive” of residents’ previous complaints and asked for reassurance residents would “feel heard” moving forward.
Mr Smith responded by encouraging the public to contact the council if they have any future complaints, stating “we have protocol in place in our local enforcement plan” to deal with them.
