PLANS for a brand new recycling centre in Witchford have received a mixed reaction from local people amid concerns over an influx of traffic into the surrounding villages. While local councillors and residents agree that the new centre will provide a more

PLANS for a brand new recycling centre in Witchford have received a mixed reaction from local people amid concerns over an influx of traffic into the surrounding villages.

While local councillors and residents agree that the new centre will provide a more accessible and progressive means of recycling their waste, residents in villages including Haddenham, Witchford and Wilburton feel that the potential increase in HGV traffic is too high a price to pay for the local villages.

Cllr for Haddenham, Gareth Wilson told the Ely Standard: "As far as the plans for the new building go they are reasonable and will be on improvement on the existing arrangement which involves climbing flights of stairs just to recycle your waste.

"I do think though that it is the wrong place for the centre and goes against what a large number of local people want. I think there will be a large increase in traffic on the local roads and particularly the A10 roundabout and I don't think that is right."

The new centre, which was given approval by members of the Development Control Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council last week, will feature a modern split-level design and will also house a number of energy saving innovations including a 'living wall' which will be made in part, using vegetation.

The centre will also be capable of processing 15'000 tonnes of waster per year, almost doubling the capacity of the existing site.

In a bid to combat worries about traffic, the county council planned for several new access routes for HGVs and also agreed a route planning scheme with contractors that should see no more than six loads of waste delivered a day, but district and parish councillor for Witchford Ian Allen, insists that a number of concerns still remain.

"We asked for the county council to obtain section 106 money from the applicant to help pay for all the damage that the increase in HGV traffic will cause to the already sinking roads, but they refused and I don't think the roads will be able to cope.

"We were also concerned about the traffic that will be coming through Witchford village which, thanks to the difficult and dangerous junction coming out on to the A10, will continue to get worse."

Work on the new recycling centre will begin in the Spring of 2010 with the completion due around Autumn later that year.