A group of elderly protestors met this week to oppose plans to build a scrap yard next to their homes.

The mainly retired residents of Jacks Hill Park, a community of 49 static caravans in Graveley, met on Monday to discuss the threat of a waste metal processing site just metres away from their homes.

If approved by Herts County Council, the site on land currently used by Brycelands Removals would see 100 lorry journeys a day and process 130,000 tonnes of waste a year, including cars and demolition material.

Resident group spokesman Eddie Quince, said: “We are scared stiff that this is going to wreck people’s lives. The traffic is dreadful here anyway. It’s going to be monumental. It isn’t going to stop at a hundred lorries - who’s going to police it? Nobody. This road cannot possibly handle it.

“The infrastructure is not here. The park has one source of water. It’s a spring. They are not on the mains. It‘s antiquated, they are not on main drainage.”

Long-term resident, Valerie Dunne, 75, said: “There’s a health issue and the traffic and noise. It’s a nice quiet place at the moment. People may move. But where would they move to? The value of houses will go down.”

The group will be taking their protest to County Hall on September 21 when the application by Greener Recycling Solutions is considered by councillors at a planning meeting.