Plans for processing household rubbish at Abermule

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Plans to allow black bin waste to be processed at the North Powys Bulking Facility on the outskirts of Abermule, near Newtown, have been lodged with county planners.

The application has been made by Simon Kendrick, Powys County Council’s Principal Engineer and is the final piece of the jigsaw that will see the controversial facility become fully operational.

The application, which went live on Tuesday, November 4, allows the site to accept and store residual material in a dedicated bay within the existing building.

When the £4.6 million facility was given planning permission back in August 2018, no specific mention of black bin waste was made in relation to it.

Its development led to protests among villagers, and some residents complained of a huge increase in flies in the village after it was opened for bulking recycled waste two years ago.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) issued an environmental permit in July 2023, which allows the council to operate the site and deal with 22,500 tonnes of waste a year.

This permit included allowing the council to deal with residual black bin waste there.

The council explains that it needs to be able to process black bin waste in Abermule as its other facilities in Brecon and Rhayader already do so.

The council claim it would save the authority £100,000 a year.

In documents to justify the proposal, Powys council said: “In a bid to lower costs, reduce the authority’s carbon footprint and ensure the council’s waste and recycling service remains sustainable for the future, the plan is to now fully utilise the capacity of the site.

“Residual waste collected in the north of the county is currently taken to a third-party transfer station at an additional cost of £100,000 per year.

“A savings proposal was agreed in February 2024 to divert residual waste to the North Powys Bulking Facility, subject to planning authorisation.”

The council said that “to ensure” they have been open and transparent about their plans for the site, an open evening was held at the bulking facility on September 2.

The council said: “Over 40 visitors attended the open evening and were given the chance to have a walking tour of the facility and talk to staff about current operations along with the council’s plans.”

Villagers say they will object to the proposals.

A decision on the application is expected by December 30.