Hundreds oppose recycling plant

MORE than 2,000 residents have signed a petition against a recycling plant from going ahead in West Drayton.

The campaign against the plant has been gathering pace since the launch of the petition, including a demonstration that took place in late December.

Powerday submitted a planning application to demolish the existing Old Coal Depot buildings and construct a materials recovery facility, despite promising in early 2015 not to develop the site following a five-year battle with residents.

Since then seven petitions were created each with a specific reason against the plant, as well as an overall petition which is nearing 2,100 signatures.

Jan Sweeting, West Drayton ward councillor and secretary of the Garden City Estate Residents’ Association (GCERA) said: “The main thrust of all of this work has come from the GCERA – they’ve delivered leaflets and collected signatures.

“We’re a very small committee but we’ve had such great support from local people and businesses. It just shows the amount of anger there is locally about this company coming back for a third time trying to put their major recycling plant in the middle of a residential area.”

David Andrew, chairman of the GCERA, added: “With Crossrail coming, even more people will want to live here and it’s inappropriate to build this plant.

“It’s in the wrong place. The nature of the area is changing, it doesn’t conform with waste policy and they’ve not demonstrated a need for it at all.”

Mr Andrew is inviting as many people as possible to go to the planning application hearing on March 3, 2016.

The site, which will incorporate a recovery and recycling building, storage bays and associated car parking, landscaping, fencing and infrastructure, will recover recyclable materials such as plastics, glass and cardboard from businesses and households.

But the site was previously rejected by Hillingdon Council after a 4,000-strong petition, and active residents are gearing up to campaign again.

Powerday has acknowledged that they face opposition ahead of the planning application hearing.

A spokesman said: “We will be noting all the feedback from the consultation period which closes on January 27, we will then be commenting further on our proposed planning application.”

If you would like to get involved, contact Cllr Jan Sweeting on JSweeting@ hillingdon.gov.uk.