JUST days after Devon County Council began work clearing the site for the Link Road construction to help ease the traffic situation in Crediton, it has approved a plan which will see an increase in vehicles passing through the town.

Councillors on Devon's development management committee approved a plan on March 6 for a site to compost green waste for on-farm use at Smallbrook Farm, Newton St Cyres, despite strong opposition from local residents at Hookway.

The plan will provide a site for the composting of shredded household green waste.

The main source of green waste will be from Punchbowl Recycling Centre, located to the north of Crediton, with smaller amounts (consisting of no more than 30 per cent) being delivered from the applicant company's green waste shredding facility at Kenbury Wood, Exeter.

A number of other conditions have been imposed.

No more than 1,500 tonnes of green waste shall be processed at the site in any calendar year and the operator shall keep records of tonnages of materials imported into the site and numbers of vehicles used in the delivery of green waste to the site.

EIGHT DELIVERIES IN

ANY ONE DAY

In the interests of highway safety and in order to protect the amenity of local residents, there shall be a maximum of eight deliveries of green waste to the site in any one day.

Compost produced at the site shall be used solely for incorporation into the farm holding, in which this permission site is located, to prevent additional tractor and trailer movements on the local highway network.

All the deliveries will be by tractor and trailer.

There shall be no selling of composted materials to the public from the site nor public delivery of green waste to the site.

The extent of the site shall be marked out using one metre high agricultural posts and retained on site whilst composting operations are taking place.

The control of Japanese Knotweed and other injurious weeds shall be carried out in accordance with guidelines.

The amount of green waste processed on the site shall not exceed 500 cubic metres in volume at any one time.

RESTRICTED HOURS

No deliveries of shredded green waste or operation of plant or machinery associated with the development shall be permitted outside the following times: 7.30am to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays; 7.30am to 12 noon on Saturdays; and at no time during Sundays or public holidays.

No shredding activities shall take place on the site.

The vehicular access to the composting site is off the A377 at Hookway Cross, which is located between Crediton and Newton St Cyres.

The routing is continued along 750 metres of the C168 road in the direction of Hookway before turning left onto farm track for approximately 900 metres leading to the application site field. The distance to the site is approximately 10km from the Crediton facility and 19km from the Exeter facility.

The composting process at the farm would involve the formation of the green waste into an open windrow which would have a height of three metres by 11 metres wide and 90 metres long, and hold approximately 500 tonnes of shredded green waste.

Composting of shredded green waste is a natural process which is assisted by the monitoring of the windrow for temperature and moisture content and turning to ensure that the windrow is aerated.

Once the process has completed the compost is spread on farm land to provide a nutrient for the soil.

The application proposes that this process takes place up to three times in the year in a 500 tonne capacity windrow, with the application site therefore processing a maximum of 1,500 tonnes of green waste per year.

TOWN AND HAMLETS OBJECT

Crediton Hamlets Parish Council objected to the proposal saying that the access was considered inappropriate by reasons of; inadequate passing spaces on the minor road for tractors and trailers, inadequate width of the turn into the lane off the A377 and concerns that the private lane to the site will deteriorate increasing the risk of flooding from surface water run-off.

The council also said that it had concerns that no reference was made to movements necessary for the management of the material composting and the council said it would be mindful to support the application if it were more suitably located, such as having direct access off the A377.

Crediton Town Council also objected to the application on the grounds that the increase in traffic was not in the interests of residents or High Street businesses as well as being detrimental to the already poor air quality of the High Street and Exeter Road.

Hookway residents also opposed the scheme citing traffic and health concerns, visual impact, odour and noise.

There were also highway safety concerns, others of the possible increased risk of flooding due to poor maintenance of the track and about the impact on the public footpath.

Members of the development management committee visited the application site on the morning of Thursday, February 7.