A STORM of protest is mounting against a retrospective planning application to store giant heaps of compost on Ashbourneʼs Industrial Estate.
Vital Earth, a compost recycling plant, is seeking retrospective permission to store thousands of cubic metres of compost to the rear of the Blenheim Road premises.
Outraged residents and surrounding businesses are lobbying against the application, claiming the mounds of ‘reeking brown waste’ have sprawled beyond the perimeters of the factory without permission and the stench and flies are blighting their lives.
But Steve Harper, Vital Earth managing director, has maintained the company is always willing to work alongside residents to resolve their issues and he is confident the planning application will be passed.
He said: “Initially we leased the land from a farmer, who could store compost there for agricultural purposes without planning permission. However, because we are an industrial business and apparently we need planning permission, which was an oversight on our part when we first moved to the airfield.
“We do believe we can eventually come off the back of the site within a five-year period.
“At present we are producing more compost than we have clients for, but the business is growing and we anticipate we will create the consumer base we need to shift the stored compost, so it only a temporary permission we are seeking.”
The application for ‘retrospective change of land use’ for the storage of final compost product for the next five years across 2.3 hectares of land is been scrutinised by Derbyshire County Council planning officer, Linda Townsend.
Residents have lodged a catalogue of complaints including putrid smells, noise pollution from extraction fans, air pollution and the health risks, and claims the mounds of brown compost which reach almost six metres in height are a blot on the landscape.
Management at Artisan Biscuits Ltd, in Blenhiem Road, are opposed to the application on the grounds of food hygiene and increased flies in the area.
The letter of objection states: “As a quality food producer we have seen a marked increase in fly activity since the site first opened and have needed to invest in additional pest control.”
Residents have set up the Ashbourne Environmental Action Group in bid to resolve the ongoing problems between the plant and surrounding home owners.
In a letter to the county council, one home owner stated: “It is imply inconceivable that planning permission would have been granted for the Vital Earth composting facility in 2005 if this storage had been shown on the original plans as it stands today.”
Action group member James Woodrow, of Ladyhole Lane, Yeldersely, handed these aerial pictures of the 2.3 hectares of waste to the News Telegraph.
He said: “We want to make the community aware of the serious problems we are facing with Vital Earth.
“We are united in our opposition to the application and would like anyone who has experienced the air or noise pollution to register their views with the planning officer on the county council website, application CW3/0409/9.”