Knackers' yard for Great Shefford?

A previous planning application, which generated protests from some residents and local businesses, was withdrawn after planners requested more detail on drainage plans.
The nearby National Animal Welfare Trust said a ‘yes’ vote by planners would have spelled the end for the charity.
But now a new application has now been submitted by J. Passey and Son, who seek to move the knackers yard used for storing horse carcasses from its current location next to the scrap yard on the Turnpike Industrial estate in Newbury, to the vacant Wessex Saw Mill site in Great Shefford.
In the new submission, the agents state: “On request, the applicants visit surrounding farms to collect dead animals or to humanely destroy those animals at the farms, and then return with the dead animals to the application site...if any fallen stock on the farms is subject to a notifiable disease...such as foot and mouth, they would not be collected from the farm by the applicants.”
Animals would be brought back to the site either in a 7.5 tonne lorry or by the applicants’ two pick-up trucks and trailers.
The animals would then be placed in a skip within the main building which, when full, is removed by a contractor.
Hours of operation would be 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, although the business is on-call 24 hours a day.
The applicants have sought to reassure planners: “Vehicles used are specially designed sealed knacker trailers, with sumps, which are designed to prevent leakage when in use.”
The business will also operate a service for private cremation of horses and the plan states: "A 400kg horse (takes) some eight hours...there will be no smoke or fumes from the flue as a result of the technical specification of the incinerator, and there will only be hot air."
The previous application sparked concerns from some local residents and businesses, and Chaddleworth Parish Council, whose chairman Grahame Murphy feared flooding among other issues.
And a spokeswoman for the nearby National Animal Welfare Trust Centre, Alison Pearce, feared that water would be contaminated if the site flooded.
She said she feared the effect this would have on livestock as local farmers use boreholes to water their animals.
Ms Pearce added: “I do not think having a knackers yard near us will be a good idea as people bring their animals to us for retirement will not be happy.
“It will kill us as a charity.”
Another charity with concerns for the knackers yard is Homing Ex-racehorses Organisation Scheme (HEROS) based in Wantage.
Chief Executive, Grace Muir, said: “I do not think it is a great idea to have it near to a racing area.”
Views can be expressed by visitng West Berkshire Council’s website and going to the planning section, then entering the reference 14/01615/FUL