A RURAL area near Winchester could be ‘industrialised’ if two recycling plants are approved within two miles of each other.

People living in Littleton and Harestock, and surrounding villages, have raised fears that a scheme by Portsmouth-based TMR South Coast Ltd will increase traffic and cause environmental issues not just for residents but also for racehorse trainers.

The business is looking to develop an inert waste recycling facility on farmland at Three Maids Hill between the A34 and A272. It would produce a range of recycled products for re-use in construction.

It is the second application of this nature lodged for the area with another by Road Planing Supplies Ltd proposed at Down Farm Lane, near Headbourne Worthy.

The site would be used for the storage of road planings for crushing and screening to create recycled aggregate, including associated buildings, structures and vehicle parking.

The application is currently waiting for a decision by Hampshire County Council.

This latest scheme by TMR South Coast has sparked concern with residents and the parish council, who will lodge their objection to the crusher this week saying it is an ‘industrialisation of a rural area of Winchester’.

Parish chairman Stephen Burgess said at a council meeting on Monday: “It is evident that both applications have not considered the locale in which they sit properly and both applications fail to address the issue that they are sitting next to the Littleton Stud.”

He added: “The big elephant in the room is the Littleton Stud which is a major racehorse producing establishment.

“What we have got with crusher two is an application that puts them within 140 metres of the yearling yard.

“That is before you start getting into the problems of noise and dust for the local community, road traffic problems and all the other issues we can identify. I think that must be something that Hampshire County Council has to take very seriously indeed the value of a national, international, UK based resource which is worth millions of pounds within 140 metres of an industrial crusher.”

If the proposal is approved it would deal with 75,000 tonnes of waste and run 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 7am to 1pm on Saturdays, on occasions it will also operate during the night.

The company says it could generate approximately 50 to 76 HGV movements per day.

Christopher Napier, of CPRE Hampshire, has said: “CPRE Hampshire strongly supports the avoidance of landfill by reuse and recycling of waste. Critical, however, to our approach to any proposal for a new waste recycling facility is its location and size, and corresponding impacts on landscape character, tranquillity, traffic, and visual and local amenity. We are reviewing the planning application by TMR South Coast Ltd.”

TMR South Coast says that as well as the recycling facility it will also enhance half of the land which will remain empty to improve biodiversity “through the creation of a mosaic of habitats across the site”.

TMR South Coast was contacted for a comment but it did not respond before publication.