Though closure is just days away, the fight to save Birstall tip is far from over, as new information is brought to light.
Back in August, a shock decision to permanently shut the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Nab Lane was announced in a bid to save the council some cash. This left both the public and elected members outraged, with petitions launched and the decision ‘called-in’ for further scrutiny. Despite these efforts, the council is ploughing ahead with closure.
One member who has been vocal against the plans since their inception is Cllr Josh Sheard (Con, Birstall and Birkenshaw), who has continued in his efforts to keep the facility open. The councillor has recently uncovered some conditions relating to the site from planning applications previously approved by Kirklees Council, which set out what must happen if it ceases to operate as a tip.
The conditions state that if the Nab Lane facility stops being used as a HWRC for a period of more than 12 months, the area will be restored to woodland, with a five year programme of aftercare to follow. With closure just around the corner, Cllr Sheard argues that the site by definition will cease to operate, thereby triggering the conditions, though the council begs to differ.
The councillor says that the area’s restoration could incur costs far greater than the £200k saving the council said would be achieved from the site’s closure.
In a response to questions from Cllr Sheard, the council said: “the environmental permit [of Nab Lane] will be transferred to the authority, ensuring the site continues to operate as a permitted Household Waste Recycling Centre, thereby not triggering the condition.”
The councillor described this response as “troubling” and believes the local authority has been caught “off-guard” by the findings. He said: “If the site closes on Sunday then the site, by definition, will cease to operate thereby triggering the conditions.
“Should the council overturn the decision and keep Nab Lane open then the tip will be in operation and thereby avoiding triggering said conditions. The council seems to be interpreting ‘operating’ loosely to avoid admitting that the site’s closure would trigger the conditions in the planning decision.”
Councillor Sheard is concerned that the council was not aware of the planning decision before plans to close the HWRC were green-lit, despite its claims, and believes the council wants to “redraw” the conditions in other planning applications so permanent closure can proceed “without any barriers”.
He added: “I will continue to pursue this to the bone and work alongside my colleagues Cllr Liz Smaje and Cllr Mark Thompson and my other colleagues within the Conservative group, to the very deadline to try to keep Nab Lane open and the people of Birstall, Birkenshaw and the whole of North Kirklees are delivered justice for the neglect our area has received by this council.”
The councillor says he has taken the matter up with the council’s legal team.
We asked Kirklees Council whether it was aware of the conditions before the closure decision was made and if so, what its plans were to restore the area to woodland. We also asked whether the planning conditions were taken into account when calculating the £200k savings figure.
A spokesperson said: “The council was aware of the current planning conditions on the Nab Lane site prior to making the decision to close the Household Waste Recycling Centre at this location.
“The savings made by the decision to close Nab Lane do not include any costs related to future use of the site and our team are currently exploring options.”
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