Warwickshire Country Council is at logger-heads with Stratford District Council over an application to treble the capacity of a local tip.

The county council has been forced to come up with suggestions for extra waste facilities after failing to agree a new lease on the Burton Farm tip in Kytes Hardwick.

After checking on over 30 possible sites Warwickshire County Council has now decided to expand its existing facility at Wellesbourne, which Stratford District Council Director of Planning Sean O’Grady disagrees with.

He said:

"We have been given the application to look at and I have to say that there are a lot of loose ends with it that need to be tidied up.

"I do not think it has been properly thought through because encouraging people to travel from miles around Stratford to get to the tip is going to cause a lot of problems.

"For instance on Saturdays there is already a half mile queue at times to get into Wellesbourne market and the entrance to the tip is just 100 yards away from that.

"It would mean that people would be stationary for miles around just to deposit their rubbish which cannot be sensible."

O’Grady also said there was strong feeling against the idea from local residents.

"I do not think I have seen one letter of support for this idea and I believe that the county council has been inundated with complaints.

"It just seems that the county council has not done its research properly about things like traffic congestion – the figures it is based on are from 1996 so they will be five years out of date when the tip opens.

"We have fired some questions to the county council and unless they come up with the answers then we will look to refer the matter to the Secretary of State."

These claims were refuted by Warwickshire County Council planning spokesman Roy Burton.

He said:

"We have been considering this issue for six years and it has proved far more sensible to utilise an existing site then try and move to a new one.

"We have to move from Burton Farm because we simply cannot afford to pay what the landowner is asking to renew the lease.

"Stratford District Council are just consulting on this application and the decision will be made at county council level.

"I know there is talk of Secretary of State intervention and public enquiries to decide this matter but I honestly don’t think that is likely to happen."