PROPOSALS to redevelop the High Heavens tip have been given the go-ahead by council chiefs – who then apologised to residents for making the area’s road network ‘even worse’.

Buckinghamshire County Council’s development control committee voted eight to two in favour of constructing a waste transfer station at Clay Lane this morning.

130,000 tonnes of waste would be sent to the site for temporary storage and bulking, before the waste is transported to a facility at Greatmoor.

The applicant, Waste Recycling Group, estimates up to 160 additional vehicle movements - including 21-tonne HGVs - would go in and out of the site every day.

This sparked an outpouring of discontent from residents (see links).

Members said they were concerned about the site's entrance and admitted the increased traffic on the roads around Cressex, Booker and Sands would make a ‘bad situation even worse’ – before they approved the scheme.

Cllr Niknam Hussain said the county’s highways team should have improved the roads around High Heavens after it was identified as the site of choice.

He said: “The site is the site, we don’t object to that, but once High Heavens was identified by the council, what did highways do to make the road network more suitable?

“The additional traffic will have a minimal impact but, in turn, it is making a bad situation even worse.”

WRG said it had made concessions to the council by agreeing to widen the access road and to include a right-hand turn ‘ghost lane’ from Clay Lane to help ease congestion.

The firm said it would plant hedgerows to mitigate the loss of approximately 62 trees, it had slashed waste capacity by 20,000 tonnes from earlier plans and agreed to start operations at the later time of 7am.

The company will also pay £11,000 in development contributions.

In addition, members bolted on a condition preventing vehicle movements in or out of the site should the M40 be closed for a ‘significant delay’.

Residents said they were worried lorry drivers would use alternative rat runs through Marlow and Lane End if the motorway was closed.

But WRG’s director John Plant vowed to sack any driver who diverted from the proposed route – which takes lorries along Cressex Road, John Hall Way and the M40 – as every vehicle will be monitored by a GPS device.