A NEW waste plant could be built in Wivenhoe just months after the quarry closes.

A village site has been earmarked for a 50,000 tonne-a-year biological waste treatment plant.

Wivenhoe Quarry has been listed as a preferred site for a biowaste facility by Essex County Council.

A plan is being put together for where to put waste between 2017 and 2032 and a consultation is underway.

Planning permission was first given for building materials at the quarry in 1947 and was due to run out by the end of last year with a restoration plan to return it to a greenfield site.

This may still happen but those close to the site, including residents, a school and a cricket club, could find trucks loaded with building materials replaced with trucks serving a biowaste treatment plant at the five-anda- half acre site.

Councillor Julie Young said she had already raised her concerns.

She said: “There is already plans for a large-scale development to the east of Colchester with four to six thousand homes and people are not going to want to live next to an anaerobic digester.

“This is commercial waste and a major treatment plant.

“I support the principle of reusing and recycling waste, but it has to be in the right location.”

She added concerns about traffic and smell, particularly for those living in Rectory Road and Keelers Lane.

Wivenhoe’s Deputy Mayor Asa Aldis added: “We are concerned.

“We expected and wanted the quarry to be returned and kept as greenfield.”

The town council is examining the preferred site plan and what it will mean for Wivenhoe and trying to get more information.

Mr Aldis added: “We are working on a neighbourhood development plan and it does not include this.”

Councillor Nick Tile, who is investigating on behalf of the town council, said: “The proposal has elements of an industrial site, therefore there is likely to be some fallout so it is looking likely it will be something we will be against."