Warwickshire County Council has given the go-ahead to a municipal composting scheme that has met with opposition from local residents.

Coventry City council was planning to build its own facility on Brandon Farm, Brandon Lane with borrowing secured through Supplementary Credit Approval from the government.

However, they realised that the land was just over the Coventry border, a complication which Coventry Council’s waste services officer Nigel Brown explained.

"We were allowed to borrow extra money without penalty but it was only for 12 months, and after submitting a planning application to Warwickshire County Council and waiting for an answer that time had expired.

"This meant that we would have to find in excess of £500,000 of our own money to fund the facility, which we could not do so we withdrew our application."

This left the way clear for Brandon-based Lafarge Redland to plan a similar scheme on its site in Brandon, which is next to the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, and this project has now been granted planning permission.

The site will be used for the composting of municipal waste of various different kinds, but Brown stresses that this will not include any domestic waste.

He said:

"We are talking about completely green waste, like when the contract services people trim trees or when they have trimmed borders that would get put there.

"We are completely committed to finding more ecological ways of disposing waste than just burning it."

The proposed scheme is yet to be given full planing permission, and the application will be subject to several conditions that Brown believes Lafarge will be asked to meet.

He said:

"There have been complaints from local residents about the proposal, mainly because they are worried about big 10 tonne vehicles coming through the villages.

"Lafarge Redland will have to submit clear indications to Warwickshire County Council that they can ensure this will not become a problem."