New waste site neighbours in Smethwick expecting 'three years of hell'
The disgruntled neighbours of a new waste contamination facility in Smethwick say they will be plagued by “three years of noise and dust.”
Plans to build the waste contamination facility in Bridge Street North in Smethwick were approved by Sandwell Council’s planning committee despite pleas from residents to reject the move.
The residents objecting to the move from the Galton Lock development – just a stone’s throw from the Smethwick industrial site – accused the council of sending out a “horrible mixed message” to people who had bought a home on the promise the area was being regenerated.
The planning permission allows nearly 900,000 tonnes of contaminated waste – such as soil and construction, demolition and excavation waste – to be processed over the next three years.
One resident, who lives in a three-storey townhouse in a ‘quiet cul-de-sac’ in the opposite Galton Lock development, which is only separated from the site by the canal, said he was “looking at three years of noise coming through his French doors.”
“We have a lot of ongoing concerns,” he told the planning committee at a meeting in Oldbury on November 29. “We have spoken to a lot of residents and it’s the same thing comes up for us. It’s the noise, the dust and the fact that it’s unsightly.
