AN APPLICATION has been put forward to build a waste depot on land close to the Kendrick Industrial Estate near Rodbourne Cheney.

If given approval, then it will contain various non-toxic household, industrial and commercial waste.

The proposal has been put forward by Beefy Skips, who are based in Blunsdon.

Since the fire began at Averies, which is not connected with this application, there have been calls for similar waste transfer facilities to be moved away from residential areas.

While there are no houses in the immediate vicinity, there are residential properties about 400 metres away which suffered the effects of smoke from a fire at the Cheney Manor Industrial Estate last year.

However, in putting the application forward it has been made clear the site will be run in a safe way. On top of that, the facility would carry a licence for around 20,000 tonnes of waste every year, making it considerably smaller than Averies.

Within the formal documents, the agent, Town and Country Planning Development Consultants, says: “The applicant proposes to use the site for the importation, storage, sorting and transfer of household, industrial and commercial waste which would be dry, solid non-hazardous waste and the importation, storage and processing of inert excavation and demolition waste.

“Construction demolition waste will include wood, hard core, concrete, soils and stones.”

Any waste stored at the site will be delivered in skips and then be sorted at the site. It will subsequently be taken off the site in larger skips to be recycled or reused.

A new building is to be built at the site which will be used to house any sorting and it will be manned at all times during opening hours.

Each delivery will be inspected and any waste which does not conform to the requirements of the site will be taken elsewhere. The company is also keen to add there will be minimum disruption to the roads.

“It is anticipated, based on established practises, that a total maximum monthly tonnage of about 600 tonnes will be handled, although the site’s capacity and anticipated Environment Agency licence will allow for more,” says the application.

“Based on 5.5 days working per week and four weeks per month, it is anticipated that there will be on average no more than 140 to 150 skip movements in and out of the site per month, equating to only just over 6.7 movements per day on average.”

  • For more details and to comment, visit the council’s planning portal at www.swindon.gov.uk.