A CONTROVERSIAL recycling facility has been told it can remain on its current base, despite the fears of families living nearby.

Agricore, a waste business specialising in plasterboard, had previously been granted permission to operate from its site at Hill Top Farm, in County Durham, for just five years.

But following a failed search for a new home, bosses at Durham County Council gave the green light for the firm to remain there permanently, despite strong opposition from neighbours over the impact of traffic, noise and dust.

“The majority of issues raised by objectors only came about after the application was submitted, not before,” said Ian Bainbridge, Agricore’s owner.

“It has been demonstrated that the alleged issues, when investigated, have not been valid.”

Bainbridge was speaking at this morning’s meeting of the county council’s County Planning Committee, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube to rule on the application.

Objections submitted by the Winston and Hutton Magna parish councils focussed on the impact of heavy traffic on the area, as well as a previous application from 2015 which, they claimed, should have forced waste processing on the site to stop last year.

No formal comments on the scheme were submitted by highways authorities for County Durham or neighboring North Yorkshire.

According to a report for the panel, more than 110 individuals submitted objections to the plans.

One opponent who lives near the site, Kate Nichols, told councillors: “The volume of wagons now on this narrow road [the B6274, which passes the site] means we cannot now walk or ride on it in the way we used to.

“The council dismissed this in the report, but this does not mean it isn’t true.

“This is not a rural business, this is a waste facility and it could be anywhere.”

Bainbridge however argued the gypsum extracted from the plasterboard was sold to nearby farms as a fertiliser, meaning the location was key to the business’s success.

Despite the reservations of some councillors, the proposals were eventually approved by a majority vote, but with a condition that plans to replace existing diesel generators with a more ‘sustainable’ alternative be submitted within six months.