A PLANNING inspector unexpectedly halted the proceedings of a public inquiry examining Hills Waste's appeal to extend the current recycling facility in Lower Compton until the next year after conceding the evidence was confusing.

The inquiry, which was adjourned by Brian Sims during its first day at Trowbridge Civic Centre on Tuesday afternoon, attracted the attention of approximately thirty protesters from the Calne & District SOS campaign group who are concerned Hills might be acting illegally in the new year as their temporary planning permission to operate on the site ends on December 31.

Louisa Reis, of the Freeth, who has been campaigning for ten years, said: "I missed my child's first day at school to get here today. This is so important to us, I cannot tell you. It is life changing. It is wrong to live with this amount of uncertainty. We feel so strongly about this.

"I have three babies in Compton Basset and I don't want them to grow up like this."

After lengthy discussions between the representatives for Hills Waste Solutions and the Wiltshire Waste Alliance, it was revealed that additional information for the environmental statement and the fall back positions were required and Mr Sims instructed for an adjournment.

He said: "My approach will be to adjourn this case and I regret that we did not have a pre-inquiry meeting because I took on the case so late and I will not resume this inquiry until I know what this case is about.

"I urge that there should be a statement of common grounds, bearing in mind it will more of a statement of uncommon grounds, and that a summary of the evidence be produced."

Additional information will also be provided in the new year from Paul Tucker, who represents Hills Waste, regarding traffic sustainability, air quality and planning, something which Anne Henshaw of the Wiltshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England hopes to speak against.

"I want to have all the evidence before speaking," Mrs Penshaw said. "It will be based on how the site looks like now in 2016 with relation to the huge changes that have taken place since 2010."

A spokesman for Hills Waste Solutions said: “We are disappointed with the need to adjourn the inquiry and are concerned about the implications that this delay may have on the management of Wiltshire’s household waste in the future.

“The Lower Compton facility is a key operational site in the context of Wiltshire’s Municipal Waste Management Strategy 2012 and has been identified as a Strategic Waste Management Site in the Wiltshire and Swindon Waste Site Allocations Local Plan adopted in February 2013 by Wiltshire Council.

“Hills will continue to work to provide the planning inspector with all the information needed to ensure that the inquiry will go ahead in February 2017 and bring to a close this long outstanding planning application to extend the Lower Compton materials recycling facility.”