12 December 2007
At a public meeting for the residents of Bellozanne Valley and the First Tower area held on Monday evening it was made evident to States representatives that local residents felt that they had suffered enough from living alongside Jersey’s primary waste disposal sites, the incinerator and the sewerage treatment works.
The meeting had been called by Transport and Technical Services Minister, Deputy Guy de Faye, to discuss a proposed temporary relocation of the public green waste reception facility from La Collette to Bellozanne Valley.
However, many of the 48 residents who attended the three hour meeting at St Andrew’s Church Hall said that the rest of the Island should also play a role in the responsible disposal of waste.
Their concerns were put to a panel comprising of the Transport Minister, Assistant Minister, Deputy Jacqui Huet, Chief Officer, John Richardson and Directors of Waste Strategy and Waste Management, Will Gardiner and John Rogers, who were in attendance, to brief the residents on the proposal.
Deputy de Faye, outlined the need for the relocation, which is primarily because the current public green waste collection site has to be removed as it is on the site of the proposed Energy from Waste facility, which recently obtained planning approval in principle. Additionally, new public facilities can no longer be sited at La Collette following a review of the risks of an explosion at the La Collette Fuel Farm and, for identical reasons, existing public facilities should, preferably, be relocated elsewhere.
The Deputy explained that Bellozanne Valley had been chosen as temporary site primarily because it can be established quickly and cheaply and also enabled residents to combine trips for delivering garden waste with those to the new Bellozanne Re-use and Recycling Centre, which opened in June.
Following a detailed presentation from Will Gardiner, the Director of Waste Strategy Projects, on the operations and environmental safeguards being proposed for the site, residents raised their concerns, which centred around the traffic impact to the area and localised fly tipping.
The Minister undertook to take the residents’ comments away and consider the issues highlighted. After the public meeting the Minister said:
“The need to temporarily relocate the public green waste collection site to Bellozanne Valley is unfortunate as the hazard situation at La Collette could not have been foreseen by Transport and Technical Services and it has caused the Department considerable difficulty.
I was impressed that local residents understood the need for this site, although they are understandably unhappy over further impacts on Bellozanne Valley, even on a temporary basis.
In response to that, I pledged to residents that the Compound 6 site will only be in use for four years, by which time alternative and permanent public facilities should have been developed.“
The St Helier District Number 3 Deputies Ben Fox and Jackie Hilton were also present. Deputy Ben Fox indicated he would submit a proposition to the States for further funding for Transport and Technical Services to enable more than one collection site to be operated to minimise the traffic impact on Bellozanne residents.
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