Plans for a major landfill site at Middridge Quarry are set to be ditched after massive councillor and public intervention.
Plans would have seen building waste dumped at the site with huge numbers of HGVs travelling through Middridge village, Shildon and Newton Aycliffe.
Councillor Michael Stead (Aycliffe North and Middridge) challenged the application and threatened to take it to committee several months ago.
Now, in a letter to the applicant, Durham County Councils planning officers have advised that even with additional information they cannot see any circumstances in which they could recommend approval of the application.
Councillor Michael Stead, who wrote to every single household in the parish asking for support, explains “We had to make sure that this application didn’t get nodded through. Now that our pressure has paid off, it makes sense to allow officers to determine this application and resoundingly reject it. This should happen shortly.”
The councillor, who delivered hundreds of posters against the application, has checked with council officers and significant concerns have been raised including:
• Need for the development
• Ecological impact
• Landscape harm
• Recreational amenity impact on
public right of way users
• Unacceptable risks to groundwater
Councillor Stead adds, “Without the dozens of submissions from residents we could have seen untold damage to Middridge village and the important natural asset of the quarry.
“A huge thank you to everyone who has helped to get this proposal thrown out. It was a true community effort.”
Photo: Lib Dem Councillor, Michael Stead, with ‘No To Middridge Landfill’ poster.