Concerns Harworth's recycling facility’s double tonnage could cause ‘rat runs’
Concerns have been raised that plans to double the amount of waste processed at a Harworth recycling facility will mean lorry drivers could use nearby villages as ‘rat runs’.
Luna Waste Services is a metal and aggregate materials recycling facility in Glassworks Way, Snape Lane, Harworth, that currently processes 75,000 tonnes of non-hazardous construction waste each year.
Applicant Ashley Barrett applied to Nottinghamshire County Council to double the tonnage going through the site to 150,000, and those plans are set to go through the authority’s Planning and Rights of Way Committee on Tuesday, September 16.
The proposal also includes increasing HGV movements in and out of the site from 160 to 308.
Back in July 2024, an application to increase the site’s tonnage to 100,000 was withdrawn following concerns raised by council officers about increased noise and traffic.
In October 2024, the operator received five condition breach notices regarding dust, operational hours, HGV numbers, waste types, and the amount of material being accepted onto the site.
Planning papers say officers have since visited the site, and “it has been observed that there have been changes made to the operational practices at the site” that mean the site is now operating within its existing permissions.
The county council’s highways team has not objected to the new plans but has noted its concern for ‘rat running’ through smaller towns and villages such as Harworth-Bircotes and Tickhill, with HGVs potentially using back roads instead of main roads, leading to an “increased disturbance to local communities and undermine local amenity”.
Its highway team has suggested one way to work around this issue would be to install detectors at existing junctions to give priority to HGVs, helping them reach the A1 better and “reducing the incentive” to rat-run.
However, the cost estimations for this are around £25,000 to £30,000, with the council saying: “It is not considered proportionate or reasonable to expect Luna Waste alone to fund these works given the wider context of growth in the area.”
Residents have sent twenty-one objection letters regarding noise, increased traffic, odour, waste leaving the site, and operational hours.
The site’s operations include trommels, which separate materials by size and produce residual ‘fines’ that can be recycled, two shredders, and magnetic separators.
The new, developing Simpson Park housing scheme, which could see over 1,000 homes built in Harworth, is close to the waste site, with some homes to the east already completed and occupied.
The highways team has also recommended that the operator keep a daily record of all HGV visits to and from the site.
The plans are recommended for approval by the committee, but a final outcome will be decided in the meeting next week.
The details of many planning applications can be found in public notices advertised by local and regional newspapers. To catch up on all the latest public notices, go to https://publicnoticeportal.uk/.