Looking to the future the county council remains committed to being open and honest with local residents around Four Ashes. I sincerely hope this ‘blog’ will play an important role in ensuring you have access to useful information.

If you have any questions about these proposals then please email comment@staffsprojectw2r.info. I will try to respond to the most frequently asked questions in future entries.

January 2009 - Feedback from the Planning Committee

Last November, Staffordshire’s planning committee decided to grant planning permission to build an Energy from Waste facility at the Four Ashes Industrial Estate.

The Planning Permission and the draft conditions were submitted to the Government Office for the West Midlands (GOWM) for review in November. On January 14th, the Secretary of State, through the GOWM, wrote to the Council giving the go-ahead for the county council to grant the planning permission as decided by the planning committee in November.

As with any planning application, conditions are made to ensure that a building has minimal impact on the area surrounding it. The Energy from Waste facility has received over 60 planning conditions to make sure it protects the local environment and considers the concerns of the local community.

Many of these conditions are very much centred on similar themes, for example, there are a few that relate to the traffic generated by the facility. The committee has requested that the proposed traffic improvements for the junction where Vicarage Road meets the A5 are in place before any construction work begins on the facility. The traffic improvements are currently being considered by the Highways Agency and the county council’s Highway’s Engineers to make sure that the best solution is implemented.

Another planning condition related to traffic is that routing agreements are going to be established for the facility’s waste deliveries. This means that lorries carrying waste and materials to and from the facility will have to go by an agreed route. Traffic will be prevented from using Straight Mile and other routes through local villages. Site traffic will be minimised though Wedges Mill and on the A5 through Bridgtown. This will minimise the traffic impact to the local villages and areas of air quality concern.

Other planning conditions specifically involve the local community. The planning committee would like to give the local residents in the area the opportunity to actively get involved with the facility’s development and operation. This includes the establishment of a local liaison committee between local residents and the site developers. This will make sure that the facility, and its workers can work effectively and in unison with the local community.