Flurry of objections after controversial plans for tyre disposal business are submitted
CONTROVERSIAL plans to use part of a former tramsheds site in Thornbury as a tyre disposal business have been re-submitted to Bradford Council, sparking a flurry of complaints from those against the project.
Jacks Tyres, one of the firms based on the 8,500sqm of land on Leeds Road, has re-applied for partly-retrospective permission to bale tonnes of waste tyres on the site, working in conjunction with tyre-fitters Zee Tyres.
A huge blaze, thought by fire chiefs to be an arson attack, swept through the yard last month forcing residents to flee their homes, and campaigners against the plans have said they put “lives and homes at risk.”
The plans to expand the business were first submitted in May, but then withdrawn to include a turning area and tyre-baling machine not included in the original proposals.
The re-submitted plans state that waste tyres would be brought onto the site before being baled into blocks and removed by an articulated lorry four times a week.
The developer acting for Jacks Tyres, the Baildon-based Fineline Architectural Design Ltd, makes reference to the fire in its updated planning statement.
It reads: “This fire was allegedly to do with a large amount of illegally stored tyres which have nothing to do with Jacks Tyres.
“The said tyres have been dumped on the land and arranged to provide notional boundaries between various operations.
“The tyre storage of both Jacks Tyres and the associated Zee Tyres will be such that they will be kept safe and secure, and not readily open to arson attacks.
“The owners of Jacks Tyres and Zee Tyres see the other tyres on site as a problem and also feel that they contribute negatively to their operation which is a sustainable solution towards waste-tyre recycling.
“If the planning department support this application, we would hope that the neighbourhood would see the proposals in a more favourable light.”
Fineline Architectural Design Ltd declined to give any further comment, but a spokesman for Zee Tyres has previously stated that the 1,000 tyres involved in the fire had been fly-tipped in an area of the site not used by the firms.
Bradford Council also confirmed that the fire did not take place in the area of the site involved in the planning application.
Public consultation on the proposals is open until August 14, but the plans have already attracted more than 30 objections on-line, ranging from local Bradford residents to people in the USA, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
Joolz Denby, 60, who has lived on Rushton Terrace behind the site for 36 years, said: “We live in daily terror of another fire.
“This use of the old tramshed site is wholly and completely unsuitable and inappropriate for a residential area, and we object in the strongest possible terms to this proposal.
“We will fight it every inch of the way to save our homes, families, and health.”
Share article
Julie Neil, of Woodhall Avenue, Thornbury, said: “Not only is it an eyesore, but it is a danger to public health. Would you want this on your doorstep?”
Jo Russell, writing from St John’s in Canada, said: “After the recent fire, to consider this a suitable use seems ludicrous.”
Read More: Waste Tyre Disposable Plant