In 2016, Northants County Council (NCC) adopted a “Minerals and Waste Plan”.
This Plan codified the principle that waste processing should be done in the “Urban Spine” of Northamptonshire. At the time, there was little public consultation on the implications.
That principle is still in force today.
The effect of this is that waste processing plants are mostly located in either Daventry, Northampton, Wellingborough, Rushden, Kettering or Corby.
In the decade since the Plan was adopted, there have been regular objections to the location of the waste plants. Objections have been for multiple reasons.
- Smell
- Fire hazard
- Fly swarms
- Risk of rodent infestations
- Excess HGV traffic
In the early days, the objections mostly centred on smell and traffic. However, in recent years, fire hazard and fly swarms have become more prominent.
Last year, there was a major fire at the Monoworld plant in Rushden, which produced smoke plumes that could be seen as far away as Essex.
There has now been a fire in a waste plant in Corby. Although not as big as the Rushden fire, the smoke was visible 20 miles away in Peterborough and Higham Ferrers.
The Minerals and Waste Plan is due for an update.
It will be interesting to see if Reform-led North Northamptonshire Council supports the retention of the “Urban Spine” principle.
