Scrap Lorries – Councils Ignored Residents’ Concerns
Hitchin Forum, along with other organisations and individuals, has been concerned for many years about the number of large lorries going to and returning from the two scrapyards off Wallace Way and Cadwell Lane, Hitchin. According to a traffic study commissioned by the then owners in October 2019, the numbers of HGVs for the Wallace Way scrapyard alone were 236 for a weekday.
This is a very serious matter for the people of Hitchin, and it lowers the quality of life in large parts of the town. Quite apart from the danger, nuisance and pollution caused by fires on the processing sites themselves, the hazards posed by pieces of scrap flying off lorries, pollution from their exhausts and rubber tyres, vibration in dwellings and general fear-inducing vehicle noise are a constant worry for residents and other road users.
This is all happening in a residential environment where residents are living their lives bringing up their children. Is this really acceptable in 21st century Britain?
With the help of Forum member Cllr Ian Albert, we enquired about permitted numbers and were astonished to learn that in 2022 the permitted throughputs for the Wallace Way site were given a huge increase by the Environment Agency. This was from 1,250 to 2,000 tonnes per day and from 285,000 to 500,000 tonnes per year, being increases of 60% and 75% respectively.
The Environment Agency, which grants the permits, has advised us that it asked the then North Hertfordshire District Council and Hertfordshire County Council specifically for their views on these increases but received no comments from either council. The increases were apparently approved with no thought of residents’ concerns regarding unacceptable impacts on local roads at the existing levels of throughput, never mind if that throughput was increased by 60% and 75%.
We are further astonished to be told that council officers did not even tell their councillors that the EA was asking for comments on the application to increase the scrap throughput. If this is true we consider that our councillors have grounds on which to challenge the decision or at the very least to review the decision-making process that was followed.
This apparent failure of either council to respond is extraordinary as the scrapyards and the large lorries going to and coming from them have been a source of complaints to the councils by residents for many years. In particular, in January 2021 the councils were sent the Grove Road Industrial Area Petition, which painstakingly catalogued the problems residents were having with HGVs from the two scrapyards – including danger to pedestrians.
For the moment, we understand that the present operator of the Wallace Way scrapyard complies with the lower limits of 1,250 tonnes per day and 285,000 tonnes per year.
However, we believe that the present or future operators would be at liberty to increase throughput to the higher figures.
Why did the councils fail to comment on these large increases, despite all the representations from residents?
What is going to be done to reduce the permitted tonnages at the very least to the previous lower limits and ultimately to get these HGVs off Hitchin’s residential streets?
Neil Dodds – member of Hitchin Forum Steering Group
(Article from Hitchin Forum Newsletter May – June 2026)
