Campaigners fighting against plans to build an asphalt plant next to the Allerton waste incinerator have met MP Andrew Jones this weekend in a united stance against the proposal.
Members of the Communities Against Toxins (CATs) invited the Harrogate & Knaresborough MP to meet with those residents who stand to be most adversely affected by the proposal.
Having secured more than 800 objections to the plans, CAT members are keen to explore ways that working with their MP they can ensure the asphalt plan is rejected.
Campaigners say that they fear that anyone living within a 3-9km radius of the site would be affected by numerous potentially harmful pollutants with the region’s air, land, and waterways exposed to a dangerous cocktail of chemicals.
Submitted by Tynedale Roadstone Ltd, the plans would see the building of a large asphalt plant at the Allerton Waste Recovery Park, despite the company already operating two existing sites in Newcastle and County Durham.
It includes a 22.5-metre exhaust stack which will spew out fumes associated with the production process containing known toxins, such as Carbon Monoxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide and Lead.
CATs organiser, Michael Emsley said:
The campaign is really starting to gain momentum and we are delighted that Mr Jones has agreed to come out and meet with residents who are seriously worried about these plans.
The risks to health and to the environment are numerous and too great for this proposal to be given the green light.
We need all the support we can get to make sure North Yorkshire Council do the right thing and move to reject these proposals.
Andrew Jones MP said:
I understand residents’ concerns about the proposal for an asphalt plant. That is why I am supporting the campaign to stop this happening. There are many red lines which these plans cross – air pollution, chemicals leaching into groundwater, noise and others. And it also represents industrial creep further into the countryside.
I have already raised my own objections to the plans with the council and am working cross-party with Keir Mather MP’s office as villages such as Goldsborough, Flaxby, Allerton and Hopperton which are in the Selby & Ainsty constituency are also affected. Campaigners have done an incredible job marshalling the arguments and I hope when councillors come to consider the application they act on these concerns and turn the application down.
A spokesperson for MGL said:
Allerton Park and the application site is allocated as a minerals and waste site within North Yorkshire Council’s (‘NYC’) Minerals and Waste Joint Plan (2022). The proposed plant is a secondary aggregate facility and, as a use, is supported by the Council in its proposed location in accordance with the Council’s allocation. The plant is not linked to the existing recovery plant and is not an extension to that operation; however, it does directly benefit from being co-located next to this facility as it seeks to reuse a recycled by-product from the plant, thus delivering sustainability advantages.
Our company has two operational asphalt plants in Newcastle and Barton and has long-term supply agreements with surfacing and maintenance companies. It is on the North Yorkshire Carriageway Planning and Surfacing Contractors Framework. The site is an appropriate location for a plant due to its location adjacent to the strategic road network, the ability to meet demand for locally resourced products and the ability to serve key contract locations. Demand is established by maintenance works requirements. The development will support sustainable growth in North Yorkshire and is crucial to facilitating and servicing highway works and projects in the area.
A full planning application was submitted to North Yorkshire Council in September 2022, supported by an environmental statement to address environmental matters. Tynedale Roadstone has and continues to engage with North Yorkshire Council through the planning application, and the most recent set of application documents seeks to address technical comments raised at the consultation stage. We are aware of some concerns regarding pollution, traffic movements, operational hours, dust, odour and noise.
The asphalt production process involves heating natural minerals and then a mixing process that includes the addition of bitumen to produce the specific types of asphalt materials that are required. The installation of the proposed asphalt plant at Allerton Park will be a brand-new state-of-the-art facility that will meet stringent environmental, noise and emission criteria in the asphalt production process. Modern asphalt plants have extensive process filtration systems used with clean fuels to constantly maintain and monitor all the emissions from the production processes and ensure that they are kept within the correct protocol.
The plant will primarily be operational between 06:00 and 17:00, Monday to Friday, and reduced hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Outside these hours, operations will be limited to vehicles coming to and from the site to collect material and service-specific contracts in the region. Evening operations will be limited to production only, with no feedstock deliveries to the site. The evening asphalt production process will generally consist of materials being mixed principally in advance during core working hours and then stored in the integral hot material storage facility ready for collection at pre-arranged times by the transport, which will then deliver the asphalt materials to the site.
Tynedale Roadstone Limited is committed to responsible, sustainable, and safe operations. The technical material supporting the planning application concludes that there will be no significant environmental effects as a result of traffic movements, dust, odour, and noise, subject to best practice measures being employed at the site. Tynedale Roadstone commits to delivering these measures to the required standards.
Both we and our planning consultant, Lichfields, continue to work with North Yorkshire Council and are committed to alleviating concerns and addressing any comments made on the application.
