Opposition to Rivenhall Airfield development

9:29am Wednesday 3rd December 2008

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Braintree Council has strongly objected to plans for a major waste management site which would “scar the countryside.”

Proposals for an integrated waste management facility at Rivenhall Airfield in Silver End came under fire by the council, which is a consultee in the planning process.

It recommended to “raise objection” to Essex County Council, which will determine the application as the waste planning authority for the area.

At last week’s planning committee meeting they also called for the Secretary of State to hold a public inquiry into the proposals, as it would way up all the evidence independently.

At the 60-acre site, which would operate 24/7, there would be a residual household waste treatment plant, an anaerobic digestion plant, a materials recovery facility, a paper-pulping facility and a combined heat and power plant.

There would also be a 35-metre-high-stack as part of the heat and power plant and a new access road linking the existing access from the A120 to Bradwell Pit to the facility.

Criticisms on the proposals, by Gent Fairhead and Co Ltd, centred on:

* open countryside not being a suitable place for such industrial activity

* effect of pollutants emitted from the site

* lack of need for a paper-pulping facility

* increased traffic on an already unsuitable A120

* loss of woodland and other habitats