As the Wiltshire Council member in whose division the Lower Compton waste site is situated, I am sometimes asked for my views regarding Hills’ proposed expansion of its materials recycling facility – that’s the big green shed that can be seen from the household recycling centre used by the public.

Since this question is becoming more frequent as the hearing is continually being delayed, it might be worth explaining my personal views.

I am opposed to Hills’ application to expand its recycling operations at Lower Compton for several reasons. The most significant is that the current permission for Hills to operate a recycling facility at Lower Compton is due to expire in 2016, after which time the big green shed will have to be removed and the land will return to countryside.

However, Hills’ application is to create a permanent facility with a big green shed three times as large as the present one. All the current disadvantages to the local community: noise, dirt, smell, vibration, infestations of flies, rats and seagulls as well as traffic congestion and associated pollution will continue to exist for ever. I don’t want my children and grandchildren who live in Calne, or your children and grandchildren, to have to put up with that.

People often complain about the number of lorries travelling along the A4 through Calne. Vehicles going to or from the Hills Lower Compton site form a large proportion of those lorries.

If the present permission is allowed to expire in 2016 and the materials recycling facility ceases to operate, there will be about 65,000 tonnes of waste going into the landfill site per year. If Hills’ application to create a permanent facility in a shed three times the size of the existing facility is approved, there will be a total of 466,400 tonnes of material going on to and from the site each year.

I don’t know how many lorries it takes to move 466,400 tonnes of material, but it has to be an awful lot more than are needed to transport 65,000 tonnes. And all those lorries create harmful pollution in and around our town where air quality is already a serious issue.

There are other sites close by that are ideally suited to the strategic scale facility Hills wants to create, as identified in the Wiltshire Council Waste Site Allocation document. This proposed expansion at Lower Compton is inappropriate and unsustainable. That’s why I am working hard to ensure that Hills’ application is refused.

Coun Alan Hill, Calne South and Cherhill Division, Wiltshire Council.