Glossop waste transfer station set to be demolished

The county council is set to demolish a Derbyshire waste station because it poses a hazard to staff and the public.

Derbyshire County Council carried out an inspection of the Glossop waste transfer station, next to its waste and recycling tip in Melandra Road, earlier this year.

The inspection found the facility was “beyond economic repair” and was “not now considered safe due to significant localised damage”.

As a result it closed the transfer station in March and began redirecting waste to the Waterswallows site in Buxton.

In a report to be discussed next week by the council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr Simon Spencer, and his team, the facility is recommended for demolition – at an overall cost of £111,000.

The council’s property services team and structural engineer said in an inspection report of the site: “Some evidence of previous cladding patch repairs and loose fixings were visible. There is a potential for pieces of cladding falling off the building or being blown off, which could be hazardous to the workforce and the public.

“Even without further investigation to catalogue additional faults, we can conclude that the structure is beyond economic repair.”

A report prepared for next week’s meeting says: “This report seeks approval to demolish the existing WTS as a matter of urgency. Any delay in this decision could lead to deflection of the building, particularly in poor weather that could result in cladding coming loose and being a hazard to site users.”

Plans for a new “disposal point” are now in the works, through the council’s contractor Renewi UK Services Ltd.

Glossop’s waste tip, which sits alongside the transfer station, would likely be closed for five to 10 days, the council says, during the demolition process to disconnect and reconnect utilities.

Advance notice of this temporary closure will be given.

Council officials say demolition work could start in July and is expected to be completed in January 2021.

The council says that in “parallel” with the demolition of the transfer station the council will review longer term options for the site and its adjacent tip – at a cost of £25,000.

These options would come back to the council later this year.