Rochdale amongst councils preparing new joint waste plan

Date published: 11/05/2007

Rochdale Council is amongst all ten councils in Greater Manchester working together to produce a 'Joint Waste Development Plan Document' (JWDPD) for the county.  It will develop planning policies for managing waste, identify sites for waste facilities and provide policies to help determine planning applications.

Initial consultation on the development of the waste plan starts on Monday 14 May. People throughout Greater Manchester are being asked for their comments on the Greater Manchester Joint Waste Development Plan Document Stage One Issues and Options Report.

The Plan is being prepared in response to national targets and changes in waste legislation which means there is an urgent need to provide facilities to enable communities and businesses to reduce, reuse and recover more of their waste.

Greater Manchester’s municipal waste stream is of primary importance to the collection and disposal authorities, and is significant in its own right.  The Greater Manchester and Wigan Waste Disposal Authorities have developed Municipal Waste Management Strategies which will provide solutions for managing municipal waste.  However, municipal waste only accounts for part of the total waste stream and much larger quantities of other wastes such as commercial and industrial, construction and demolition are produced within the Plan area.  Therefore, the JWDPD will provide policies to help deliver the range of facilities that may be required to manage Greater Manchester’s waste.

Richard Leyshon, Chairman of the Greater Manchester Officer Waste Plan Steering Group, said: "Greater Manchester is a growing and vibrant conurbation with a population of over two million people. We all need to ensure that we are capable of managing the waste we produce in as sustainable a way as possible, and this means all of the Greater Manchester councils need to work together."

"Waste facilities are often not popular, but using new technologies and facilities that are properly located and designed can help to provide sustainable solutions to solve our waste problem. If you have views on how different types of waste should be minimised and treated, what types of waste handling and treatment facilities are needed, how many should be built, where they should go and how they should be designed, this is your chance to make them."

As part of this consultation, views are invited on the various issues and options identified as to how Greater Manchester should be planning for waste, and where new waste management facilities should be sited across the county.

Everyone is invited to comment on the Issues and Options Report and to make suggestions on each of the options for planning for waste management. 

The document is available for consultation during the period 14 May – 22 June 2007, and is available to download from www.gmwastedpd.co.uk  To see a hard copy, people are asked to contact their local council's planning department or library.