Residents from Yiewsley and West Drayton are more driven than ever to campaign against a recycling plant from going ahead, after 'anger' over broken promises.
John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, Hillingdon Councillors and residents demonstrated outside the proposed Tavistock Road entrance on Wednesday (December 30).
He said: "I joined my constituents demonstrating against the latest Powerday planning application because I share their concerns at the impact of heavy traffic, the air pollution and the noise disturbance this development would generate.
"This site is in the close vicinity of a residential area and this type of development so close to people's homes is not acceptable. For these reasons I have urged the council to reject this latest planning application."
Powerday Plc submitted a planning application to demolish the existing Old Coal Depot buildings and construct a 'Materials Recovery Facility' (MRF), despite a promise in early 2015 not to develop the site and after a five year battle with residents.
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.
Cllr Jan Sweeting, West Drayton ward councillor and Secretary of the Garden City Estate residents association, has so far visited 1,200 homes in Yiewsley and West Drayton, in a bid to collect signatures and has heard 'a lot of anger' from residents.
She said: “We're talking about a very major industrial plant being plonked right into the middle of three residential areas. It's within 50 metres of some people's residences.
“The company is already using the site until December 2017, as the council has employed them to take away domestic waste every month and that has caused residents no end of problems.
“An enforcement notice was issued to stop them using it 24/7, and they haven't, so it's going to the inspectors. They've been a very poor neighbour already.”
A lot of anger
Cllr Sweeting has a long list of reasons for campaigning against the development, such as lorry movements causing gridlock on Yiewsley High Street, disrupting buses going in and out of West Drayton Station, the proximity to residential areas, constant noise and jeopardising health and safety to the high street.
She said: “There's a lot of anger from local people because the company has said that lorries will be coming through Yiewsley High Street or from Horton Road and we already see Powerday lorries in and out of there at all times of the day and night.
“The prevailing wind will being noise and pollution to many thousands of properties.
“There's already an abundance of recycling in the area and it was withdrawn from the West London waste plan.
“It will create 120,000 HGV movements in an area which has already got pollution problems and it would not meet London Plan requirements which says that any brownfield sites near a town centre should be developed for housing.”
'Absolutely ridiculous'
Campaigners will be distributing hundreds of leaflets, putting up posters and talking to local businesses before the consultation period ends on January, 27, with a possible planning decision set for March.
West Drayton resident, Dave Robins, will be joining the campaign and contacted local MPs for help.
He said: “It's going to create a lot of noise, pollution, and vast traffic – there's going to be lorries coming in and out all the time.
“It's right in the middle of the Garden City estate with a growing population on this side of the railway line with more flats being built.
“They're trying to do something where thousands of people live – it's absolutely ridiculous. It's a totally anti-social development. It's the worst possible place for such a development.
“We want a much needed health centre and a much needed leisure centre, that's what we want there, we don't want this!”
Powerday says West Drayton is a 'strategic location' to make Hillingdon borough self-sufficient as it has 'good access to the Distribution Road Network' with the company promising to use the nearby rail access to avoid road use.
But Cllr Sweeting sees no business sense for the facility in the borough and nearby.
She added: “ The West London waste plan has got sufficient sites already identified.
"The company has got a site at Old Oak Common which Hammersmith and Fulham are operating. There's sufficient provision already.”
