Horsham landfill site plans visitors' centre

Proposals for the Brookhurst Wood Landfill Site near Horsham include a recycling plant, extensions to the tip and a plant to collect gases from waste, as well as the visitor centre.

West Sussex County Council planners will next week discuss the application by Biffa Waste Services to develop a Recycling and Waste Management Park on the 34-hectare site on Langhurstwood Road.

More than 120 additional heavy goods vehicle journeys would be made to and from the site every day.

Campaigners have objected to the plans and criticised the county council.

Tom O'Hara, clerk of North Horsham Parish Council, said the applications should not be considered individually but a long-term assessment of the whole site needed to be taken into account. He said the parish council was concerned about possible problems caused by additional traffic.

County council papers revealed Horsham District Council believed the development would be premature and that inadequate information had been used to show it would not damage the environment.

Peter Rice, of the Langhurstwood Road Residents' Association, said the development would have a negative effect on homes. He also said improvements were needed to the road which last underwent a traffic survey 20 years ago.

John Nicholas, who lives in Langhurstwood Road, said increased traffic movements on the A264 were not taken into account in the plans.

The proposals, which are part of the West Sussex Waste Plan, have been drawn up to deal with landfill space running out next year.

West Sussex produces 460,000 tonnes of landfill waste every year and has been told it must also process 2.6 million tonnes of rubbish from London over the next 20 years.

The recycling facility would process up to 120,000 tonnes of waste every year. The extended landfill area would dispose of an extra 1.4 million tonnes of non-hazardous waste.

West Sussex planners will discuss the plans from 10.30am on Tuesday at County Hall, Chichester.