Update on Warminster Household Recycling Centre

Written by Vicki White | 13 February 2009
Posted in News - News from RFW

The Warminster HRC is operated by Wiltshire County Council’s waste contractor Hills Waste Solutions Ltd and is on land which formally housed a gas works. West Wiltshire District Council, as enforcing authority for contaminated land, has identified the site and adjacent land owned by National Grid as ‘contaminated’ land due to its historic use. The county council, as current owner, is responsible for dealing with the contamination.

The plan is for the council to open a new HRC close by at a county council-owned highways depot and then shut the current site so it can be decontaminated.

What is happening now:

On Wednesday February 11, the County Council’s Regulatory Committee considered the planning application for the new HRC. The committee voted unanimously in favour of the proposal providing certain conditions are met. These conditions relate to landscaping, preserving trees on site and drainage. Measures will also be taken to reduce the impact of noise on neighbours.

The new site will be larger than the present HRC with a better layout of facilities. It is only 200m away on Furnax Lane. A small portion of the highways depot will be retained for maintenance and storage of gritting vehicles.

The new site’s permitted opening hours will be in line with the county’s other HRCs and will mitigate any disturbance to neighbours:

Wed, Thur: 9am-7pm

Mon – Sun: 9am - 4pm

The new HRC is expected to handle around 12,000 tonnes of waste a year and recycle approximately 70% of that. 

What happens next:

It is hoped that work can be completed on the new HRC site this summer in anticipation of it becoming operational by early autumn.

Once it has opened the council can undertake a clean-up of the contaminated land at the old site.

Once the old site has been cleaned up, the council will consider what it plans to do with it.