by Dan Bloom

dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

A hazardous waste dump the size of a village is planned – right next to one.

Developers Peel want to turn 120 acres on the Isle of Grain into the only hazardous waste depot of its kind in the South East.

It would include a landfill site specially for hazardous waste and a major recycling centre.

The scheme, yards from homes in Grain, is in its earliest stages and the firm is keen to stress villagers will be fully consulted.

But Medway Council will not be allowed to have the final say on the plans, because they are classed as “nationally significant”.

Grain Parish Council chairman Chris Buckwell, a solicitor who defeated a similar scheme in the 1990s, said it was too early to take a firm view but added: “The last government changed the law so unelected planning inspectors will make the decision instead of Medway councillors.

"We’re very disappointed about that.”

Managers at Peel, which oversees Medway’s ports, met inspectors on April 26 to outline the scheme for Perry’s Farm. They have also met Medway Council three times for advice since 2010.

They told inspectors the site would be the only one in the South East handling “a range of hazardous wastes, recycling and disposal”. Currently 70% of waste is taken elsewhere in Britain.

If built, lorries will deliver up to 250,000 tonnes a year of as-yet undefined waste which could include rubble from building demolitions classed as “hazardous”.

Schemes include washing chemicals from soil, using bio-engineered pollutant-eating bacteria and removing harmful residues from industrial gas burners.

Workers would also extract mineral and clay deposits from the ground and create “disposal by way of landfill of hazardous waste, and subsequent restoration of the site.”

Project manager Kieran Tames said: “Management of this type of waste is subject to stringent controls and no clinical, radioactive, explosive or liquid waste will be accepted.”

The firm says it will hold exhibitions, form a community liaison panel and website, and create leaflets and adverts from this autumn.