A decision on whether to grant planning approval for a major waste recycling site was put back today (Tuesday), giving opposition residents hope that it will be thrown out.

A DECISION on whether to grant planning approval for a major waste recycling site was put back today (Tuesday), giving opposition residents hope that it will be thrown out.

Herts County councillors deferred a decision on whether to approve the proposals for the site at Jacks Hill in Graveley at a planning meeting at County Hall.

The mainly elderly residents of a community of 49 static caravans next door to the proposed site, who have opposed the development since it was first mooted last year, said the postponement was good news. They fear their lives will be made a misery by dust, noise and lorry traffic.

“We do not want this on our door step as there is another one been given the go ahead down the road near the Weston turn off, this was put to the committee and they have referred it,” Linda Grant, one of a group of protesters at County Hall, said.

“There are a lot of things that need to be looked at – the noise levels, the amounts of traffic that will be coming on the B197, and the time they want to start work in the morning - from 7am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.

“Hopefully this is good for us and they will throw it out.”

The applicants, Greener Recycling Solutions, want to use the land currently occupied by Brycelands Removals to process 130,000 tonnes of waste a year, including cars and demolition material. The site could see up to 100 lorry journey a day coming from junction 9 of the A1(M).