A RURAL business has won a divisive 15-month planning battle to continue running its plasterboard recycling operation.
Agricore, based at Hill Top Farm, near Winston, will be able to continue extracting gypsum from plasterboard after Durham County Council’s planning committee approved an application to make it a permanent feature.
The family-run firm, which employs 15 full-time members of staff, was given temporary consent in 2015 to use an existing building on the farm to run the plant for five years.
Residents mounted a fierce campaign objecting to an application to make it permanent, organising public meetings and staging a protest rally. None of the statutory consultees, including County Durham and North Yorkshire highways, raised objections to the plans and planning officers recommended the scheme for approval.
Opinion remained divided, with emotions running high and accusations of broken promises, during the 110-minute planning meeting to discuss the application, held virtually on Tuesday, March 2.
Chief planning officer Chris Shields said 114 letters opposing the scheme had been received from residents citing issues of traffic, site location, noise and dust. Petitions with a total of 237 signatures had been submitted from residents of surrounding villages.
Winston, Hutton Magna and Caldwell parish councils opposed the plans and were concerned about the impact of HGVs travelling through the villages, the suitability of the site and the risk of future expansion.
Before the application, Mr Shields added there had only been a handful of complaints, all of which had been dealt with and addressed by Agricore’s owner.
Business Durham was in support of the plans, noting the significant investment made by the application. Mr Shield added 160 letters of support from customers, suppliers, employees and residents were sent, stating the value of the site for waste recycling, the supply of gypsum for agriculture and to secure employment.
Planning officers confirmed all the letters had been verified by two members of staff when their authenticity was called into question by James Cook, vice chairman of Winston Parish Council, and Cllr George Richardson, who didn’t believe farmers would write letters to support anything.
Mr Cook added the parish council remained opposed to the application which denied that there a promise was made in 2015 that the site was temporary.
County councillor for Barnard Castle East James Rowlandson, who supported the original application, said: “This is one of the most talked about and probably divisive planning applications I have been involved in.
“It seems to have turned into something with malicious and divisive behaviour coming with it. Suffice to say one of the objectors rang my county chairman of the Conservatives to object to not having support from me and [to say they] would like to replace me in the upcoming elections, which I find unbelievable.”
Campaigner Kate Nichols spoke on behalf of residents objecting to the application. She outlined the impact of HGV traffic on the B6274 road. She said: “The volume of wagons now on this narrow road means we cannot walk or ride on it in the way we used to. The council dismissed this in their report but this does not mean it isn’t true.
“The applicant knows it [recycling plant] is in the wrong place. It’s why they applied for temporary use in the first place and promised to move. This is not a rural business; it is a waste facility. It could be anywhere. If permitted this industrial site will stand as a monument to the council’s complacency and expediency.”
Angus Thompson, a North Yorkshire county councillor representing residents across the county border in Eppleby, Forcett and Caldwell, praised Agricore’s business model but said the application was “highly controversial and emotive” .
He added the road through Caldwell to the A66 was littered with smashed signs and damaged bridges because of HGVs and accused planning officers of breaking policy and misleading consultees. He appealed to the council to help find an alternative site for the business and “not spoil a beautiful rural landscape” .
He added: “Please do not put commercialism before communities.”
Agricore’s owner, Ian Bainbridge, gave assurances there were no plans for further expansion at the site, and although a search for an alternative “quarry” site had been investigated, it had not been successful.
He said: “I would point out the majority of issues only came about after the planning application was submitted, not before.
“After ten years of operating we are no longer seeing a growth in plasterboard waste and consequently there is no reason to expand the facility at Hill Top or anywhere else.”
Queries about whether Winston Bridge was strong enough to cope with 40 ton trucks was raised by Cllr Mark Wilkes. Cllr Alan Shields said he was troubled by the application and thought there were “clear breaches of policy” .
Cllr John Clare said he couldn’t ignore the use of diesel generators at the plant but accepted for many rural businesses there was no alternative and stated Agricore was abrogating the need to mine more gypsum and if it was reverted to a pig farm, CO2 emissions would be worse.
Cllr Charlie Kay said, as someone who cycles on uses the B6274, he had never encountered HGVs.
Members voted against a proposal put forward by Cllr Richardson to refuse the application due to the unacceptable harm it would create on the countryside.
Members voted nine to five in favour of approving the application. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Bainbridge said he was relieved. He added: “We’re an innovative company at heart and focussed on customer engagement and we can now focus on that again.
“We aren’t getting any bigger here but we’re keen to look into the green energy options we committed to and that’s really exciting.”
