Various residents have asked what is happening about the potential expansion of the Hills Composting Facility (which also includes the changing of a temporary access, over the railway line into open countryside, to a permanent one) at Parkgate Farm.
It seems that the application is caught up with a similar request for expansion at Compton Bassett. Apparently, Hills submitted an application at Lower Compton in August 2011 – revised it twice and then withdrew it when they simultaneously submitted a new Lower Compton application which they portrayed as “scaled down to meet local wishes” though which actually had even more HGVs than previously.
The application was turned down on 17 June this year by the Wiltshire Council Strategic Planning Committee who did not believe the HGV figures.
No appeal has been lodged to date – the deadline is 17 December for one to be lodged and Hills has indicated that they will appeal and are in early discussions with Wiltshire Council concerning possible dates for when the inquiry could be held.
It is looking more likely that we will not know to what extent the Parkgate Farm site features in the Hills appeal submissions until the appeal papers have been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, i.e. between now and 17 December. Once we know this and have a confirmed timetable we will be able to consider what this means for the Parkgate Farm application.
Currently the only support for the Parkgate Farm expansion is the Purton Parish Council.
