Hundreds of residents back growing campaign to stop waste-processing plant near Rugby

Over 240 villagers have sent their objections to Leicestershire County Council as the bid to block the scheme in historic Shawell, near Lutterworth, picks up powerful momentum.

Angry protesters are being supported by South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa – who has raised the highly-contentious issue with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Natasha Raven, 42, who’s helping to spearhead efforts to halt the blueprint in its tracks, said: “Our campaign to stop this plant being opened has really taken off.

“Feelings are running so high – and not just here in Shawell but all over the area.

“A lot of people have families and young children and the last thing we want is thousands more HGVs thundering through every year.”

Villagers are hitting the warpath as Shawell Quarry owner Tarmac Trading and waste management company Beauparc Group aim to turn Cotesbach Mechanical Biological Treatment unit at the Gibbet Lane quarry into a waste-processing centre.

They want to process 150,000 tonnes of household, commercial and industrial rubbish a year while recovering recyclable materials.

The high-profile plan comes after the “Bio-Digester” has been mothballed for four years.

Outraged Natasha said residents have brought in their own experts to carry out environmental assessments.

“We don’t trust the facts and figures that Beauparc have come up with.

“So we are carrying out our own research and poring over their claims with a fine toothcomb,” said the mum-of-two.

“And we were right to.

“They assumed that their lorries could make 300 round trips to the proposed plant every week.

“But their current allowance is actually just 150 two-way trips a week.

“And that begs the question – how do they hope to get even close to hauling 150,000 tons of waste to the plant every year?

“The massive amount of carbon dioxide generated by HGVs covering these distances carrying a huge tonnage of waste will be extremely impactive on pollution and global warming and goes totally against the county council’s Waste & Mineral policy that states that waste should be dealt with local to source.

“It’s simply not acceptable or right that Beauparc are proposing to truck in enormous amounts of waste from many miles around.”

Natasha said that Dublin-based Beauparc has now been asked by county council planners “to clarify several claims they have made”.

“The planning authority is acting only because our experts have conducted such meticulous research.

“We are convinced that Beauparc have downplayed the massive impact this vast development will have on our entire community and the environment.

“The county council has allowed Beauparc to carry out their own environmental assessments,” she insisted.