State-of-the-art hub will serve Sidmouth and Ottery

A STATE-OF-THE-ART recycling centre to serve Sidmouth and Ottery St Mary is set to be open by autumn 2013 after plans were approved.

Proposals for the development of a site off the C808, at the Bowd, scored the unanimous backing of Devon County Council’s (DCC) development management committee on Wednesday.

The scheme is subject to planting and landscaping on a plot adjacent to the mooted facility’s access road - and around 5,000 trees will be used to screen the site and minimise its impact on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in which it sits.

The committee also requested that a 40mph speed limit be introduced between the Bowd and north of the site’s entrance.

The recycling centre will replace the existing Woods Farm facility near Tipton St John.

The new amenity will boast improved facilities and an increased capacity for recycling.

“There is a genuine public need for this site and the local community has voiced its overwhelming support for this application,” said Councillor Roger Croad, DCC cabinet member for environment.

A public consultation over three potential sites for the centre in 2010 garnered 530 responses and 84.5 per cent of those were in favour of the Bowd proposal.

Only 11.5 per cent supported a plot in Core Hill Road, off the A3052, and 4 per cent backed land off Two Bridges Road in Sidford.

County councillor Stuart Hughes said: “I applaud the way the consultation has been carried out into the potential sites, and that a site visit was held.

“The majority of local people supported this state-of-the-art facility. It has been well thought out and the screening issues have been taken into consideration to help improve the quality of life for residents in the Bowd area.

“I’m also pleased that the extension of the 40mph limit is being looked at. The Department of Transport is currently consulting on its speed limit guidance and this could be an ideal opportunity where we could use the consultation, to extend the 40mph limit on the C808.”

The Woods Farm facility has been in existence for around 25 years - when DCC’s recycling rate was just 2 per cent. Today, it is 55 per cent.