Yapton ‘concrete crushing plant’ approved despite objections from residents

Plans for the new building where the concrete crushing will take place

A member of the public said she was ‘mortified’ after plans to add an inert waste recycling building to a waste management site in Yapton were approved.

The site, in Burndell Road, is used to sort through some 25,000 tonnes of skip, demolition and construction waste per year, such as concrete, bricks, wood and metal.

The new building will allow Envirowaste (Southern) Ltd to screen and crush up to 50,000 tonnes per year, the majority of which would be brought to the site via six HGV deliveries per day.

Members of West Sussex County Council’s planning committee listened to a number of objections to the application on Tuesday (July 9), including concerns about noise and fears for the health of nearby residents.

Among the objectors was Arun district councillor Amanda Worne (Lib Dem, Yapton).

Referring to the site as a ‘concrete crushing plant’, she pointed out that there were houses only 95m away which could be affected by dust.

Telling members that she knew of a little boy with asthma who played in one of the gardens, she added: “As local authority bodies we, under the Human Rights Act, have an obligation by law to protect people’s lives – and I feel that we are not doing this justice if we are actually exposing people’s lives in the area to dust particles that we cannot guarantee will not spread.”