Landfill tip protest

12:37pm Wednesday 28th November 2007

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A fighting fund' will be launched when protestors gather next week to step up their battle against a controversial new landfill tip.

The Biffa Action Group is expecting hundreds of residents to attend a public meeting about plans for the tip in Bolton Road at Abbey Village.

Waste company Biffa has operated the tip for the last 26 years.

Now the firm wants to excavate shale from agricultural land, fill with household waste and screen it behind a man-made hill created from thousands of tonnes of soil.

Biffa, which submitted its plans to Lancashire County Council on Monday, also plans to build a giant recycling centre - expected to be almost half the size of a football pitch.

The site lies in green belt fields near Abbey Village, next to the existing Biffa tip.

Les Borland, action group press officer said: "The public have three weeks to complain. It's typical of companies like Biffa, waiting until the build up to Christmas and asking people to write a letter."

The group's fighting fund will pay for professional advisors to work on the campaign. That is expected to cost £4,000 to cover the planning process.

Local councillors and Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle - who has already hit out against the plans - have been invited to speak at the meeting on Tuesday, December 4, at 8pm.

Protestors argue the existing site is an eyesore, a source of smells and results in dangerous driving conditions on the A675.

They say a new tip will only make these problems worse.

Campaigner Carolyn Duckworth said: "If the county council approve Biffa's plans, I'm sure we will see further applications to extend their abuse of the West Pennine Moors for many years to come."

A Biffa spokesman said: "The application has just been submitted.

The planners will first need to validate the application.

They will then advertise it and write to those they believe to be directly affected.

They then allow usually 21 days to receive comments. This is the standard procedure and the exact timing of such is up to the county council."