RDF bale storage go ahead at old fire site

The recycling firm was given the green light to store the refuse derived fuel (RDF) bales on the Maydown Enviroparc site, which was partly destroyed by a huge fire in November 2015, at the Derry City and Strabane District Council Planning Committee’s April meeting.

The company also got the go ahead for the erection of four storage bays for glass, wood and demolition waste at the recycling site.

However, Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Planning Committee refused RiverRidge permission to store the bales for a five year period.

A representative for the firm, addressing the committee last week, requested the lengthier permission.

She said RiverRidge wanted to “rebuild the fire-damaged building” on the site and suggested it could take more than two years to complete the necessary planning and environmental impact requirments.

SDLP Councillor Angela Dobbins referred to the huge blaze, which engulfed the site just hours after RiverRidge acquired it in 2015.

“I live opposite it and the fire did have a big impact,” she said.

Colr. Dobbins asked why it was going to take five years to build ‘a shed’, to which the RiverRidge agent replied that the shed was 40,000 square feet in area.

SDLP Councillor Gus Hastings said he had concerns about the external storage of waste and noted that residents have complained of being “inundated with flies” as a result of similar facilities in the past.

He said: “The people who are most affected are the people who live in Maydown and Strathfoyle.”

The application was approved with the two year limit.