AC Environmental have recently secured planning permission for a 33 acre site at Cadley Hill, Swadlincote, for an inert and wood waste recycling facility for Willshees Skip Hire.
The site, a former coal stocking railhead, had been abandoned since the 1990s. Nature had moved in and the site is designated as a Local Wildlife Site, by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.
It was recognised that planning permission would not be achieved on this very sensitive site without careful planning and management of the development to ensure that ecologically important areas of the site were protected.
Ecological surveys were conducted over two years and a management plan sensitive to the needs of protected species was developed to ensure that the recycling operation could co-exist with the wildlife.
Willshees have committed to retaining woodland and wetland areas and to manage these to improve biodiversity at the same time as recycling 70,000 tonnes per year of aggregates for the construction industry and wood chip destined for biomasss boilers in the local area and power stations throughout the UK.
The site is now under development and is due to open later in 2017.
