'See you in numbers at the civic centre on Tuesday'. The rallying cry to Yiewsley and West Drayton neighbours fighting plans for a recycling centre came loud and clear at a meeting last night (Thursday).

About 70 people filled the pews of St Matthew's Church in Yiewsley High Street to get the latest news and a potted history of waste disposal company Powerday's bid to set up a materials recycling operation on the old coal yards off Tavistock Road, Yiewsley.

The plans will go before a Hillingdon Council major applications committee on Tuesday, December 10, and the community is expected to be there in force.

At last night's meeting, David Andrew of the Garden City Estate Residents' Association (GCERA), which has led the fight against the £49million concrete, wood and dry waste recycling facility in a nine-acre part of the site next to the Great Western Line, gave an outline of what people in the area could look forward to if Powerday gets permission: a 10,000sq m building for recyling general waste, plus wood shredding and concrete crushing machines operating almost continually through the day and 650,000 tonnes of waste brought by lorry to the site per year.

Janet Sweeting of GCERA, the leading light behind the battle, told the audience there had been victories along the way – getting the site removed from the West London Waste Plan so it could not in future be available for such schemes, for one – and praised the community response.

"Over 200 letters and emails of objection have been sent, and nine petitions signed by over 3,000 people," she said.

"We are indebted to to many of you who went through the lorry loads of documents."

But she warned the fight was not over. "Even if Hillingdon Council rejects the application next Tuesday, the job will only be one-third done. We need to convince others that we do not want to be the waste capital of west London."

Even if thwarted by Hillingdon, the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will have the final say.

The site falls on the border of two MPs' constituencies, those of Sir John Randall (Con, Uxbridge and South Ruislip) and John McDonnell (Lab, Hayes and Harlington) and both were there, united in opposition to the plan.

"I'm hopeful of next Tuesday being a good result. I think there is a reasonable chance, given what has gone previously," said Mr Randall, who urged people to come to Tuesday's meeting and, while respecting the norms of a 'meeting in public' rather than a public meeting, might indulge in a few 'gasps of disbelief' when Powerday made its presentation to the committee.

But he also had a warning: "Powerday is a very big company with lots of people (for the application) it is employing at vast cost.

"But you know the area very well, and this is going to be devastating."

"I'm always reasonably hopeful," he finished, tongue in cheek. "I think we are doing this because we know we are right, and the fact that we are in this building shows that we have higher authority on our side."

Mr McDonnell said he was confident the MPs and ward councillors – Dominic Gilham (Con, Yiewsley), Paul Harmsworth (Lab, Yiewsley) and Paul Buttivant (Con, West Drayton) – 'spoke as one' on the matter.

"I am very confident we can win, but as John (Randall) has said, we are up against a very powerful company with a lot of money to spend.

"No one in their right mind would allow a development like this if they were interested in protecting our health or the health of our children," he declared, echoing the fears of many people that numerous, slow-moving HGVs will have a serious impact on the area's pollution levels.

"It's a key environmental battle for our community. The prospect of losing this is too devastating to contemplate."

Powerday has retained PR company Curtin and Co to help puts its case, as well as a planning consultant who will be at Tuesday's meeting.

Ironically, Curtin's spokesman on the Tavistock Road plan is none other than former leader of the now extinct Lib Dem group on Hillingdon Council, Steve Carey.

He told the Gazette on Friday: "We were not invited to the meeting last night but we would have happily put the Powerday position.

"On Tuesday we will be there, explaining the benefits for the area and for London generally."

The major applications committee will consider the Powerday bid at a meeting starting at 8pm on Tuesday at Hillingdon Civic Centre.