SEVEN former tipping sites in the Green Belt could be reopened as part of the county council s waste strategy consultation. They include Blackbridge Tip in Wheathampstead which was closed to landfilling in 1974 and has since been protected by a tripartite

SEVEN former tipping sites in the Green Belt could be reopened as part of the county council's waste strategy consultation.

They include Blackbridge Tip in Wheathampstead which was closed to landfilling in 1974 and has since been protected by a tripartite agreement involving the district and county council and waste giant Redlands.

All the sites - the others are Bell Lane in London Colney, Harper Lane, the former Moor Mill quarry, land on the A414 in Colney Heath, the former Roehyde quarry and Smallford Pit - have been listed as possible re-restoration sites because the county council maintains their reinstatement has been unsatisfactory.

But St Albans council's planning policy advisory panel believes that the proposal intends to lever open the former "restored" landfill sites under the guise of improving them.

Four large sites in St Albans - Harper Lane, Harper Lodge Farm, Roehyde and Tyttenhanger quarry - are also included in the proposals as possible sites for processing waste including dry and green waste recycling, in-vessel composting, thermal treatment and end-of-life vehicles.

The consultation ends next Friday, December 18, which prompted the panel to voice its concern about the short six-week time scale of the consultation, particularly with Christmas approaching.

Cllr Judy Shardlow, vice-chair of the panel and district councillor for Wheathampstead, said: "Six weeks is not enough time for a public consultation on a waste strategy that will govern how waste is dumped, processed and recycled in the county for the next 16 years.

"The consultation describes the're-restoration' work proposed for the seven sites in the district as 'landscape improvements' but in reality all they plan to do is open up these sites to dump tons of waste - with no guarantees what waste or how much would end up on each site."

Describing any move to reopen Blackbridge as a potential disaster for the village, she added: "Blackbridge Tip and all the sites identified for're-restoration' are in the Green Belt and areas of high landscape value.

"Blackbridge in particular is governed by a legal agreement which prohibits any further tipping on the site. It is completely inappropriate for these locations to be included in the consultation and I urge local people to write to the county council objecting to the proposals."

Details about the consultation can be found at http://www.hertsdirect.org/envroads/environment/plan/hccdevplan/wasteplanning/