THE OLD RECHEM SITE

On Tuesday evening last a public meeting was called by the New Inn Action group to discuss the future use of the Rechem site by Shanks. A planning application has been submitted to the Council by the Company for the erection of an MBT plant to deal with domestic waste.

Mr Elsen welcomed those who attended (about 100) and then Mrs Reardon gave a very clear and informative power point presentation outlining the proposals. This was followed by questions,statements and obseravtion from the public, and Cllr. John Garwell and Cllr. John Turner. Cllr Turner explained how the borough Councillors were constrained in what they could say in public  as any statement which appeared to pre-judge the application would disqualifiy them from taking part in what was likely to be a Full Council planning determination. The Councillors were there to listern to what the public had to say and convey their concerns and questions. Concerns raised were:

1. Noise from fans and shredding equipment.

2. Smell from the compsiting waste material, bio-aerosols and fly swarms.

3. Traffic congestion at the junction of Newport Rd and Pontyfelin Lane and the roundabout.

4. Flooding by the river. Cllr. Turner stated that the Environment agency was now satisfied that the remediation measures outlined in the application would satisfy them and would not object on these grounds. However cllr. Turner stated that the Agency were requiring a lot more information about the ground consitions on the site in realtion to pollution and drainage etc.

5. It was pointed out that the whole application was predicated on a pressumed business plan which involved Torfen and 2 other heads of the valleys Authorities send their waste to them for processing. These authorities had to date given no committment to using MBT and therefore their case was just conjecture. If these authorities finally decided not to go with MBT then the plant was unnecessary.

The meeting ended with the distribution of a sample letter of objection to the planning department of Torfaen CBC which member of the public could be filled in and sent to Torfaen planning dept.