Crisp company wins appeal over council waste claim

The owner of a crisps factory which burned down has won an appeal against a council which accused it of importing and processing waste materials.

Corkers Crisps' factory in Pymoor, Cambridgeshire, burned down in May 2020, and although plans to rebuild were approved, the company has been embroiled in a row over waste.

Cambridgeshire County Council handed the owners an enforcement notice in 2023, claiming they were importing, depositing, processing, and exporting inert waste materials.

However, after the company appealed, a government inspector examined the evidence and the enforcement notice was quashed.

The council accused Corkers' owner Ross Taylor of depositing waste near the factory site without permission in 2023.

It said action was necessary "to address the unauthorised waste importation, deposit and processing at the site as well as the use of waste to raise the land" following complaints from the local community.

Taylor said at the time that the material had not been imported but taken from the footings of the old factory, and would be reused when the complex was rebuilt.

Following the appeal, a Planning Inspectorate official visited the site on 2 February, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The inspector addressed a number of concerns about material at the site, including evidence provided by the council, but said it was "not clear" where the material had come from or whether it was exported or used on site.

They said that it "seems likely that development has occurred within the site" but the allegation "in my view is wrong and does not reflect the works that have been carried out, or the uses which have occurred at the site".

The appeal was allowed, and the enforcement notice quashed.

Taylor said that while the company was "very happy with the decision", it had been a "waste of government time and money" having to appeal the notice and have the site examined.

He said fighting the council had delayed plans to rebuild the factory which was a loss to the economy and potential employment in the area.

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: "We have noted the Planning Inspectorate's decision and agree that during the two years that the council waited for an appeal decision, the waste uses at the site ceased and use of the site changed significantly."

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