OVER the past five months the Warrington Guardian has highlighted the concerns that the Agenda 21 waste group has over two controversial pending planning applications for the Arpley landfill site of Liverpool Road.

For the first one, planning application A00/42218 for the extension of opening hours, objections must be in by March 30 and the second one, planning application A00/42281 objections must be in by April 16.

We need your support in the form of written objections for the latter and these can be made to the Chief Executive, Town Hall, Warrington, WA1 1UH.

We aspire to raise in excess of 5,000 objections and we have already reached the half-way mark. Your objection will have an impact on planners now and the Secretary of State at a later stage, should it be required.

The current licence and waste capacity is due to expire in 2013 and should the extension be granted, due to the increase in recycling rates, this site could still be open in 2040-2050.

These massive landfill reserves are not required in Warrington as it would give authorities from the Liverpool, Manchester and regions a cheaper option to export their wastes to us.

It is high time that these authorities took responsibility for their own wastes and your objections now will go a long way in trying to achieve this.

The alternative is to have an unjustifiable legacy for future generations and in the short term, the next five to 10 years, have a better quality of life for all those homes that are affected by flies, odours, thundering lorries and vermin - it is up to you.

JOHN MULHALL,

Agenda 21 waste group