The location of any waste management facility is always the subject of great anguish. Once a site has been proposed, arguments against its confirmation will be raised and the proposal may well go to inquiry at great cost to all concerned.
In Bradford,there is currently a formal consultation of residents, industry representatives and others experts who are invited to have their say on the locations of no less than seven potential sites for waste management plants in the Bradford district.
“Council officers have scoured employment sites to identify the ideal spots for the plants, which are needed to cope with the changing ways waste will be managed over the next 20 years.
“A list of 150 sites has now been whittled down to the seven and a series of public consultation sessions started yesterday at Bradford Central Library.
Interestingly, one of the sites mentioned is in Bowling Back Lane which is home to our colleagues at GW Butler Ltd. Though the proposal has nothing to do with Butler’s, it does beg the question, should waste facilities be clustered, or scattered widely to make sure that nobody gets too great an impact from their presence?
As for any individual proposal, there will be pros and cons, though for industrial conurbations where distances are modest and the environmental impact of journeys will be small, it does seem logical to place all of one’s waste management eggs in a single basket and have them located close together.
The UK Government has today announced creation of several enterprise zones where companies can expect various tax advantages and relaxed planning control.
Perhaps a waste zone is the way forward. Remember, you heard it here first.