Green light is given to create a £20 million waste hub on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds

Plans for a £20 million waste hub on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds have been approved.

It comes following a meeting at St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s development control committee which accepted the officer recommendation to approve the West Suffolk Operational Hub plan at Hollow Road Farm, in Fornham St Martin.

The plans to build the hub, which will be a combined household recycling centre, vehicle depot, and transfer station, have been met with long-standing concerns over traffic, safety, and infrastructure.

And in a joint statement released by St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Forest Heath District Council and Suffolk County Council, they said they were “pleased” that the committee had approved the plans.

Councillor Matthew Hicks, Suffolk County Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Protection; councillor Peter Stevens, St Edmundsbury Borough Council Cabinet Member for Operations; and councillor David Bowman, Forest Heath District Council Cabinet Member for Operations said: “We are pleased that the committee has taken the time to consider the application thoroughly and have balanced the need for a waste hub against the views put forward by some local members of the community and representatives.

“The Secretary of State will be informed of the decision in case he wants to call it on for review.

“We have undertaken a great deal of work to get to this point to address their concerns and this has been reflected in the committee’s decision.

“A waste hub is needed to deal with increasing levels of waste as our population grows, in a cost effective, efficient and sustainable manner. This development will improve efficiency of our waste services by bringing a waste transfer station, household waste recycling centre and a vehicle depot together on one site. It will reduce the use of  rural roads by HGVs and reduce the miles travelled by vehicles moving waste from West Suffolk to the energy from waste plant at Great Blakenham.

“We identified Hollow Road Farm as the single best site for the hub after considered studies so we are pleased with today’s decision and will continue to work with the local community to address any of their concerns going forward .

“We are fully committed to co-operating with further traffic audits during construction and we will continue to monitor the highways network beyond construction to make sure that the network is fit for purpose and delivering as expected. The necessary permits will ensure the robust management of the facility from an environmental and safety perspective.”

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