Plans for a new household waste recycling centre in the west of Aberdeen have been approved by Aberdeen City Council's Development Management Sub-committee.

Sita UK's planning application for a 1.2 hectare site in the north-west corner of the disused Grove Nursery at Hazlehead, which was previously used to store composted green waste, was approved by eight votes to three.

The planning application is for a household waste recycling centre which will accept domestic waste only for recycling and disposal. It will not accept commercial waste. The site will be laid out with containers for a range of waste including wood, cardboard, garden waste, metal, rubble and glass. There will be no facility for the disposal of food waste and there will be no waste processing on the site.

The Scottish Government's Reporter, in his response to the city council's Proposed Local Development Plan, stated that the site was suitable for development as a household waste recycling centre and was the best available site to serve the citzens of west Aberdeen.

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The Reporter also stated he had no doubt that the council had fairly assessed the site.

Convener Kate Dean said: "What we were looking at is the suitability of this site for this application and in my mind the suitability has been proved. This is not part of Hazlehead Park, it's a site adjacent to Hazlehead Park.

"I am very conscious about the number of objections. We have had to look at those objections and the material planning considerations in them. 'I don't like it,' is not a material planning consideration.

"There are recycling facilities all over this city. This is not in my mind an industrial use for the site. This is a needed community facility. Many, many safeguards have been put in and I have asked for a zebra crossing to be provided as an additional planning condition to provide extra safety for pedestrians.

Vice-convener John Corall said: "We've heard all sorts of speculation and supposition, some of it a bit alarmist and a bit exaggerated. This is not a recreational area, it's a garden waste dump. I reject the safety concerns we've heard and I do not think that speed is an issue.

"I went to the recycling centre at Westhill to see what's happening there and spoke to the resident in the house nearest to the recycling centre, which was adjacent to a leisure centre and which has a primary school much closer than Hazlehead Primary School is to Grove Nursery.

"I asked him about safety, noise and smells. He said there was no problem. I said there must be something he could say about the facility and he said: 'Yes, it's rather convenient."

(GK)