Villagers were told no black bin waste at recycling site

Villagers were given assurances that a Powys council recycling facility built near Newtown would not process black bin waste, a senior councillor has confirmed.

The discussion on the potential processing of black bin residual waste at the North Powys Bulking Facility in Abermule was brought up at a meeting of Powys County Council’s Finance Panel as councillors and independent lay members discussed the budget monitoring report for the second quarter of 2025/2026.

When the report goes in front of the Cabinet next month, senior councillors will need to approve a number of virements.

These are money transfers between council accounts.

A “temporary” transfer for £100,000 is being asked by the Highways Transport and Recycling (HTR) department.

The report explains that this is to cover the: “£100,000 saving linked to the bulking of residual waste at the North Powys bulking facility, whilst planning at the site is resolved.”

The savings proposal was agreed in February 2024 and covers the cost of taking black bin waste for processing elsewhere.

Cllr Danny Bebb (Liberal Democrat – Churchstoke) asked: “That £100,000 in there – what happens if you don’t get planning?”

Director of Economic Development and Growth, Diane Reynolds said: “We would then have to request funding from the risk budget.”

The risk budget is a £3 million contingency fund set aside within the budget to pay for problems as they emerge through the year.

This is so the council don’t need to use their reserves.

Ms Reynolds said: “The planning has been submitted, hopefully we’ll get a positive outcome and be able to deliver.”

She explained the virement would cover the savings which would not be delivered this financial year.

Cabinet member for Highways, Transport and Recycling, Cllr Jackie Charlton (Liberal Democrat – Llangattock and Llangynidr) added that there had been a “lot of delays” in the project.

This was due to the need for more assessments to be done at different times of the year as well as public engagement exercises with the Abermule with Llandyssil community council and villagers.

Cllr Charlton said: “We had to wait for all that to come through.

“It’s a £50,000 saving each year and this has gone on for two years.”

Finance Panel Chairman and leader of the Conservative group, Cllr Aled Davies was part of the Independent/Conservative coalition cabinet which pushed through the controversial £4.6 million project, which was initially given planning permission in August 2018.

Many villagers had hoped that the Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition, which came into power in May 2022, would have scrapped the scheme – but were disappointed.

Cllr Davies (Llaanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant & Llansilin) said: “There’s quite a lot of local resistance to the planning. Initially there were assurances that no black bags would be collected at that site.

“The council needs to be honest from the beginning when delivering a new service and the local community are up in arms about it.

“There are concerns about the deliverability of that saving “

Earlier this month it was revealed that a new planning application to allow black bin waste to be processed at the North Powys Bulking Facility was lodged with county planners.

This is because the planning permission from 2018 does not allow black bin waste to be processed there.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) issued an environment permit in July 2023 which allows the council to operate the site and deal with 22,500 tonnes of waste a year.

The permit included allowing the council to deal with residual black bin waste there.

The council explains that it needs to be able to process black bin waste in Abermule, as its other facilities in Brecon and Rhayader already do so.

The latest on the planning application is that Cllr Gareth Pugh (Conservative – Dolforwyn) who is the county councillor for Abermule, has formally requested that the application is called in front of the Planning committee.

A decision on the application is expected by December 30.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service