Waste plant decision could hit council tax payers in the pocket

The warning was issued this week by West Sussex County Council's waste and recycling contactor, Viridor, in the wake of last week's unexpected decision by the county planning committee.

It threw out the proposal amid widespread concern over the potential environmental impact of heavy traffic generated by the multi-million pound facility.

Now Viridor and parish and town councillors for Climping, Middleton, Barnham, Yapton, Ford, Arundel and Littlehampton are locked in a war of words over the best way forward, while the county council is left to unravel the full implications of the planning committee's ruling, which went against the advice of planning officers and may result in more costs for the county council.

Graham Warren, Viridor's regional manager, warned of potential additional costs and delays as a result of the planning permission being refused.

"We are extremely disappointed at this setback. It is highly likely that by delaying the provision of much-needed recycling facilities, the county will need to rely on other solutions and potentially there are significant cost implications resulting from this decision."

Peter Tyrrell, a member of Climping Parish Council, was unimpressed by Viridor's warning. He said: "Delay was entirely of Viridor's making. Strong opposition was apparent immediately the plans were circulated, but Viridor resolutely refused to consider alternative sites.

"No other options were considered, even though Ford came last out of eight possible sites when the proximity principle was calculated." (The proximity principle states that waste should be safely disposed of as near to its source as possible, to reduce vehicle journeys and emissions).

The company, recently awarded a 25-year contract with the county council to deal with all of the waste in West Sussex, was unable to confirm or deny whether it intended to mount an appeal about the decision.

Dan Cooke, external affairs manager for Viridor, said: "West Sussex and Viridor are considering their options at the moment. An appeal is one of a number of options."

The county council confirmed that an appeal would entail additional costs. Spokesman Nigel Galloway said: "If the company decides to appeal against the decision of the county council's planning committee, we would supply a venue for any public inquiry and pay for our own legal or witness expenses, whilst the company would pay for its own costs and any witnesses it wanted to call. We have a budget every year to allow for appeals against planning decisions."

Mr Cooke gave assurances, however, that Viridor would meet its own costs should it pursue an appeal, but added that such a hearing could take several months to progress.

In the meantime, he pointed out, the only immediate option would be to transport waste outside the county for recycling.

"This is contrary to the proximity principle, which states that waste should be safely disposed of as near to source as possible. Curiously, this principle was cited by some objectors as a reason for refusal to give permission for the Ford facility."

The West Sussex County Council spokesman said the council would be exploring recycling options with Viridor and remained "very much focused on ensuring that we meet and even exceed our recycling targets".

He added: "It's very early days, because we simply do not know yet if Viridor will appeal and then much will depend on the actual grounds of their appeal, which will determine the number of witnesses and length of the hearing."

Mr Tyrrell accused Viridor of attempting "to put the frighteners on people" by warning of the higher costs of taking recyclable waste outside the county for processing. He said: "Another West Sussex waste recycling unit is available until December, 2006, at least, at Sompting."

And he insisted the correct location for the recycling plant was elsewhere in West Sussex. "The proper environmental framework for the (recycling) contract puts the site in the north-east of the county. Three-quarters of recycled loads are paper bound for Aylesford in Kent.

"Viridor should do its homework, find a new site, make the proximity principle work and save the council tax payers lots of money."

Viridor has six months to decide if it wants to appeal, from the date of the committee's refusal.