Consultation starts on potential sites for waste facilities

A consultation process to consider where waste facilities are located within Greater Manchester and the policies needed to make sure the facilities are cleaner, greener and safer, started on Monday (6 October).

Residents, businesses and other interested parties are being asked for their views and comments.

The consultation, organised by the local councils comprising the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), which includes Rochdale, continues until 14 November.

Both the Greater Manchester and Wigan Waste Disposal Authorities have already developed Municipal Waste Management Strategies which will provide solutions for managing household waste. However, this waste only accounts for about a quarter of total waste, with much larger quantities of commercial and industrial, construction and demolition waste produced daily within Greater Manchester.

All ten Greater Manchester councils are working together to produce a 'Joint Waste Development Plan Document' (JWDPD) detailing planning policies for managing waste, identifying potential sites for waste facilities, and providing policies to determine planning applications. The document will help identify and deliver the range of facilities that may be required to manage Greater Manchester’s waste.

The Plan is being prepared in response to government targets and waste legislation which means there is an urgent need to provide facilities to enable communities and businesses to reduce, reuse, and recover more of their waste.

Councillor Derek Antrobus, Chairman of the Greater Manchester Joint Waste Development Plan Document Joint Committee, said: "This plan is intended to ensure that planning authorities have policies in place to ensure we can cope with future waste in the greenest, safest and cleanest way possible. A really exciting prospect is to promote Combined Heat and Power which offers an environmentally-friendly way of supplying cheap and secure electricity."

"Greater Manchester is a growing and vibrant conurbation with a population of over two million people. We all need to ensure that we can manage the waste we produce in as sustainable a way as possible, and this means all Greater Manchester councils need to work together.

"Using new technologies and facilities that are properly located and designed can help to provide sustainable solutions to solve our waste problem. If we follow the example set by other European countries we can look upon waste as an economic opportunity with which we can provide alternative raw materials, heat and energy.

"If any resident or business has views on where waste handling and treatment facilities should go, how they should be designed, and how waste should be transported to these sites, this is their chance."

The document is now available at www.gmwastedpd.co.uk. Alternatively, hard copies can be viewed at Rochdale Town Hall, the Planning Department, or any of Rochdale's public libraries.

For more information, phone 0161 779 6182, email planningteam@gmwastedpd.co.uk or visit www.gmwastedpd.co.uk