Unfortunately, as you may have read in the press, we have lost our fight against the building of a new waste transfer station (WTS) in Marchwood. The building will be on the site of the old incinerator, a site which was deemed unsuitable for a large industrial building when considered for the new energy from waste plant (incinerator).

The Parish Council decided to fight the new proposal because we felt it was unfair. When permission was given for the old incinerator to be used temporarily as a waste transfer station it was on the condition that its use would cease by 2003, the building would be demolished and the land reinstated. This condition was referred to in the planning conditions for the new incinerator and villagers reluctantly accepted the placement of the new burner in Marchwood because the site was less prominent and the entrance to the village would be pleasant and rural again.

Alison Hoare and I managed to collect over 300 signatures on a petition against the proposal. Graham Walmsley, our District Councillor, and David Harrison, our County Councillor, agreed to help by speaking with us at planning meetings.

We were jubilant when the New Forest District Council Planning Committee agreed with us that this was not the place for the new WTS. Apart from the promise we felt had been made to the village, we also referred to the fact that the site was within the strategic gap, was very close to a Site of Special Scientific Interest and very close to housing. We were also concerned about the increase in traffic along Jacobs Gutter Lane, especially as construction will coincide with the building of the new gas fired power station.

The proposal then went before Hampshire County Council who deferred their decision until they could find out exactly what the previous planning conditions were. We remained optimistic, but at their second meeting they decided that even though the conditions stated that the land would be restored it didn’t matter because even when returned to grass it would remain a brownfield site so they could do what they liked with it.