ALTON councillors have fiercely rejected any plans by Hampshire Waste Services (Onyx) which would bring 20-tonne refuse trucks via Butts Bridge to access a proposed new materials recovery facility (MRF) on the A31 from the Basingstoke direction.
The impact of slow moving refuse trucks travelling along the A339 and causing yet greater congestion in The Butts area, with the potential for serious accidents when trying to gain access onto the A31 from the Chawton slip-road, has been dismissed as Òtotally unacceptableÓ to the town as a whole.
Despite welcoming moves by Hampshire Waste Services (HWS) to address their concerns, members of Alton Town CouncilÕs planning and transportation committee are refusing to budge on the traffic issue.
While their concerns have been allayed regarding the colour of the proposed buildings, landscaping, lighting, vermin, odour and noise control, there are some issues which remain outstanding.
In a letter to the council, HWS says it feels a restriction on operating hours would be unjustified. To be based on the former Gibbs/Palmer site on the A31 at Cuckoos Corner, the distance from the nearest receptors is not expected to give rise to noise nuisance from a 24-hour operation.
The plan remains therefore for the new MRF and waste transfer station to operate on a 24-hour basis. According to HWS, while it is not envisaged that all site activities will continue round-the-clock, such a provision will offer the flexibility needed to respond to changes in market conditions for recyclable materials and the transportation of materials from the site.
Nor, it was stated, would noise levels associated with site traffic justify the introduction of low-noise surfacing on the A31 at this point.
Fears raised about the possibility of installing an incinerator on the site could not, however, be quashed. In the letter, HWS stressed the fact that the current application does not propose an incinerator and that the applicants have no plans for such a facility at the site.
Nor did the current proposals set a precedent for the approval of such a facility. As such, councillors were warned that a planning condition imposed to preclude such a facility being installed in the future would be Òultra-viresÓ.
That aside, reaction to attempts by HWS to address traffic issues was mixed. Councillors heard that all traffic travelling along the A31 from the Alton direction would have to go to the Coxbridge roundabout at Farnham in order to gain access to the MRF.
Furthermore, while crash barriers were considered a matter for the county highways department, a contribution would be made towards signing and road markings in the vicinity of the Hen and Chicken to assist in routing proposals and the safety aspect of that specific junction.
Councillors welcomed plans to make improvements to the westbound acceleration lane to ensure traffic would rejoin the A31 in accordance with modern highway standards.
The sticking point, however, remained the routing of traffic to and from Basingstoke. According to HWS any plans to avoid using the A339 and hence Butts Bridge could not, in its opinion, be justified either in terms of the tonnages involved or the designation of the road as a Ôlorry routeÕ within the adopted Minerals and Waste Local Plan.