A New Waste Transfer Station for Sudbury?

At yesterday's Strategy Committee Meeting Members agreed, following the recommendation of the Suffolk Waste Partnership of which Babergh is a member,  that officers should investigate adopting a joint approach to contract procurement in the area of waste transfer and recycling (i.e. rubbish to you or me).  This would mean that Babergh would join with the other 6 District Councils in Suffolk, together with the County Council in order to get the best possible value in contract negotiations.  The combination would also enable us to take a truly ‘county wide’ approach  to waste and make sure that the logistics of the service are optimised.

At present all the rubbish lorries that collect refuse in the Sudbury area are obliged to drive separately to Great Blakenham so a local collection point  would, on the face of it, seem to be a better way of doing things.   

Where it goes now.  Recycling at Great Blakenham

However at the meeting I did ask a question about a potential increase in overall traffic movements locally.  The answer I received was reasonably reassuring but none the less this is something to be alert to.

   

Traffic control around the new site would need to be carefully organised to minimise nuisance to any nearby residents.  Furthermore, at the transfer station the rubbish would be transferred into larger vehicles for onward transportation to the County Council's proposed energy from waste facility (a computer generated image of which is pictured below).  This is scheduled to come on stream from December 2014.  It is important that the route these vehicles take from Sudbury is carefully prescribed and does not include driving through vulnerable village centres, or along country roads!

Where it will go after 2014