PLANS for the temporary storage of 50,000 redundant fridges and freezers at Sleaford Sandpit have caused concern that toxic materials will escape and get into the local water supply.
Hampshire Waste Services has submitted plans to the county council for an extension to previous permission to use the sandpit in Picketts Hill as a landfill site.
Currently inert waste is being landfilled at the site but the applicant wants to temporarily store the redundant electrical appliances until a new and safe means of disposing of them has been agreed.
But residents in Sleaford, Frith End, Kingsley, Headley and Dockenfield are opposing the plans, fearing that it is Òanother Grooms FarmÓ.
Last year they successfully fought plans for a landfill site at Grooms Farm in Frith End, because of the toxic nature of the material involved.
Now they think that the new application holds similar risks, if toxic substances from the fridges and freezers seep into the ground and into the local water supply at Headley Bore Holes.
At last ThursdayÕs meeting of Kingsley Parish Council, Frith End resident Brian Davey explained that the fridges and freezers would be stacked two metres high and the ground would be levelled off and surfaced - although the exact details were not clear and he pointed out that this would not necessarily mean that they would be concreted in.
Councillors also heard that the appliances were classified as a hazardous material.
ÒThey want to turn it into a landfill site which is for inert material, which will be taking hazardous material into it,Ó Mr Davey explained.
He told the meeting that there was Ògenuine concernÓ among local residents that after winning the fight against one toxic landfill site, they would be getting another.
ÒHere we are again, going through all of this for a second time,Ó he said.
As well as being concerned about the possibility of toxic substances threatening the environment, Kingsley parish councillors also expressed concern about the extra traffic the proposal would generate on the A325 and Picketts Hill.
They also agreed that the effect of the application would be to prolong the life of the landfill site, which was deemed to be ÒunacceptableÓ.
The parish council agreed to object to the application which will be decided by Hampshire County Council.
Headley Parish Council, whose parish boundary the sandpit also falls within, also agreed on Monday to oppose the application.
Councillors argued that it was not a suitable site for Òthe storage of hazardous materialsÓ and agreed to voice its objection to the county council.