Locals of an idyllic Southern village are furious about plans to expand a car park into one of the largest car recycling plants in Europe.
Shedfield, Hampshire is a quiet town of just 4,000 residents, but locals fear they are “going to lose the village” if construction moves ahead.
Silverlake Automotive Recylcing has submitted an application to expand its current site in Shedfield which already processes 30,000 end-of-life vehicles each year.
The company plans to expand into nearby farmland, and erect a 120,000 sq ft and 16m high building on the site, the MailOnline reports.
Outraged residents have set up a campaign group, Community Against Silverlake Expansion (CASE), to protest the project. Over 700 residents have signed a CASE petition demanding the development be stopped.
Locals fear the project will transform their rural village into an industrial eye-sore. Other concerns include noise, environmental impacts, and road safety.
Charlie Oulton, a Shedfield parish council member said: « There’s no doubt the UK needs more of that kind of facility” and that “it does important work » but stated « I don’t think it’s a very good choice of location. If you drew a map of the UK and decided where you needed a recycling plant, you would never pick a field in Shedfield. »
Villager Anna Lichowe, 43, vented: “We are going to lose the village. People are going to move away. They are going to turn it industrial. It should be stopped.
« There’s so much fumes, I don’t think people come and relocate to the village to be getting that, you come away from cities to get the fresh air. It should be moved somewhere else… it’s not really helping the environment. »
Mark Hollands, a retired doctor who has lived nearby for nearly 30 years, said: « There’s a reason they’re doing it – it’s not for recycling, it’s to make significantly more money. It’s going to change it from a nice rural setting to something that’s really not. »
Dr Hollands also was worried that farmland is at risk because of the proposals, since that is “why we moved here ». He feared that the project would also cause an increase in noise and traffic.
The CASE petition said: “The visual impact of this 16m (around five-story) high building will be hugely detrimental to our village in terms of visual impact.”
« There is no clear need for this expansion to be situated in a countryside village location when there may be other locations to be explored in Hampshire. »
In response to concerns from the community, Silverlake said that the farmland they are expanding into is « within the ownership boundary of Silverlake and develops what is a relatively low-quality arable field ».
The company also said that the new building « has been positioned to reduce visual intrusion on the surrounding context”.
In response to traffic-related concerns, it added: « Silverlake employees and customers will be briefed to ensure they only use main roads to access the site and to remind them of the speed limit on surrounding roads. »
A public consultation on the plans is currently open until September 27.
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