Poling people rejoice as composter plan is refused

Residents made a final stand against the proposed 10,000 square-metre building on the former Blue Prince Mushrooms site, which would be almost 11 metres high, to the county council's planning committee on Tuesday, June 12.

A protest group, Poling Against Composter Threat (Pact), was formed and their objections were backed by Arun District Council and the nearby Chestnut Tree House children's hospice.

The building was refused permission on the grounds of its size, design and visual impact on the area.

But although the decision was met with delight by Poling residents, it is not the end of the battle between them and the site's owners, the Vinery Group, which already has permission for an open-air composting facility on the site to process up to 40,000 tonnes of green and food waste a year.

Tony Mercer, chairman of the Poling parish meeting, told the Gazette: "Our argument honed in on the size of the building.

"It was to be immense and would have been visible for miles around.

"One councillor called it grotesque and another said it would be a blot on the landscape.

"I would like to thank everybody who has been involved in preventing this monstrosity from being built in our hamlet."

Paul Airey, of the Vinery Group's agents the Luken Beck Partnership, said he was surprised by the decision but that the firm had not yet decided whether to appeal, try to meet some of the objections or go ahead with the original plan for an open-air facility.

"We have an extant approval on the site and we thought that this was an improvement on that," he said.

"We now need to consider our position before deciding what to do next."