Plans to recycle incinerator ash in a Wishaw industrial estate have been given the go-ahead.
Applicant Paul Taylor, of On Site Project Services Ltd, was granted conditional planning permission to use an industrial site in Wishaw’s Etna Industrial Estate for recycling windows, doors and the treatment of ash.
The council received objections from nearby residents concerned about noise and pollution.
But the relatively small scale of the operation and existing legislation covering such matters satisfied officers and the planning committee to grant the application.
In its report, council planners state: “The proposed use of the site for the recycling of windows/doors and as an ash treatment facility is consistent with development plan policies and would support national targets for waste reduction.
“Although the recycling operation does involve some noise, this is not considered to be any greater than would arise from other uses of the site which would not require planning permission.
“Whereas the objectors’ anxieties about the ash treatment facility are understandable, this would be a small-scale operation handling relatively small volumes of ash and it is not considered that it would give rise to any significant risk of pollution or hazard to health.”
More than 20 people objected to the proposals with the majority living in nearby Vesuvius Drive.
One said: “The use of a site for this purpose so close to a residential area is shocking.
“In addition to the environmental risks, including air pollution, this will increase noise and light pollution which have already noticeably increased, from this and the other commercial units in this area, in the last year.”
Another added: “The cause of concern for my children’s wellbeing is due to the increased noise and light pollution and that it would produce odour and possible contaminants in the air.”
