Regular readers of the blog may remember I have repeatedly posted about the saga of whether or not there will be a waste plant on the ABP land next to Cressington Heath. Here is the latest update (and apologies to those for whom this is repetitive)
For several years now, I, along with Lib Dem colleauges and others, have been fighting the prospect of a waste plant on the ABP land next to Cressington Heath estate. We believed that not only did this have the potential to cause massive problems for nearby residents, it also had the potential to cause extra traffic, including big wagons, on the already busy Aigburth and St Mary's Roads. First there was a planning application , by Jack Allen Holdings. This was turned down. But Jack Allen won on appeal. However the company then decided the economics didn't stack up so they walked away from the site.
You would think this was good news but meanwhile the Council had been looking for an official waste site as part of a Merseyside wide plan.
The bad news was that the City Council decided to designate that patch of land as the official sub regional waste facility site for Liverpool . . We opposed this on the Council but were outvoted by the Labour party. There was then another public hearing, in St Helens , on the whole scheme. I went and spoke for residents. The ruling Labour party did not turn up or send in comments. Neither did the Labour MP or any other Labour representative.
As a result of the hearing and evidence the Planning Inspector has now made a series of changes to the scheme. The bad news is that the designation still goes ahead. The good news is that it goes ahead with a provision that means that if ABP decides to do something else with that land, like a port related warehouse for example, it can. In other words another development,may well stop the waste plant plan in its tracks.
This new situation has now been rubberstamped by the Council's Cabinet and we expect the same thing to happen in a Full Council meeting in November.
We would have preferred to get the designation thrown out. The Council however has been hell bent on the scheme so we are pleased that some progress has been made. We will still be keeping an eye on this situation and will let you know of any developments. We want to say thank you to all those residents who led, and then supported, the various campaigns on this subject over the years.
We will (that's Richard and I) still be keeping an eye on developments here to see what we can do to get the best deal for residents.
Richard has written to people living near the site to update them on the latest.
If you have any queries though, please don't hestitate to post here or e mail me at paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk
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