EAST Hampshire planners have raised no objection to the siting by Hampshire Waste Services (Onyx) of a new materials recycling facility (MRF) and waste transfer station at the former Gibbs-Palmer site on the A31 at Holybourne.

Nonetheless, local councillors in particular have registered serious concerns about traffic implications and about proposed working hours.

The application was given the go ahead last Wednesday by Hampshire County CouncilÕs regulatory committee pending any significant issues being raised by local planning committee members who considered the application on the following day.

While happy with the principal of the proposal, there were fears over access arrangements using the A339 and Butts Bridge, and over the impact on local residents of possible round-the-clock working.

In outlining the application, case officer Chris Murray told members that the possibility of a new, independent junction on the A31 to serve the site had been considered but had been dismissed by the county surveyor as unnecessary.

Instead, vehicles turning into the site from the Alton direction would be required to use the Bentley underpass with no U-turn allowed at the Hen & Chicken.

He further pointed out that the A339 was a recognised lorry route and, despite local objection, would be used for vehicles accessing the site from the Basingstoke direction.

According to the county surveyor, the number of lorry movements generated by the MRF would not significantly increase traffic volume on the A339 and across the Butts, which was considered a more sustainable route than the longer Blackwater Valley and M3 option.

Jerry Janes (Holybourne) pointed out that the A339 had one of the highest fatality rates in Hampshire, a figure likely to soar if people were to be stuck behind slow-moving, foul smelling refuse trucks.

Alton county councillor Tony Ludlow (Farringdon) agreed, as did Bob Booker (Alton NW) who believed that, under HCCÕs latest transport plan, the A339 was no longer a strategic lorry route and should not be used.

He, like Anne Storey (Four Marks) advocated the use of the railway in a bid to get lorries off the road. ÒIt would be an opportunity to double the line to Farnham and use the existing siding,Ó said Mr Booker.

Chris Murray said that Hampshire Waste Services had investigated the possibility of rail transport but that it would take time for anything to happen.

Councillors agreed to include an informative note to HCC urging the applicant to persevere in a bid to make rail transport a reality.

Pam Bradford (Alton NE) expressed concerns over heavy lorries using the Chawton slip-road onto the A31 which, she stressed, was short even for fast-moving vehicles to negotiate in safety.

She asked if lorries would instead be directed the opposite way along the A31 to turn at the Chawton roundabout - in which case, they might just as well take the longer Blackwater Valley route.

Other suggestions included the construction of a new roundabout on the A31 to provide access to the MRF site which would serve to slow the traffic down at this point, and that commuted money should be used to block off all cross-over points and to install central reservation crash barriers along this stretch of the road.

There was real concern also over the prospect of 24-hours-a-day non-stop working with councillors backing Alton Town CouncilÕs suggestion that hours of operation should be from 8 am to 6 pm six days a week, and perhaps reviewed in a yearÕs time.