A controversial waste treatment plant planned just yards away from family homes in Walton has been recommended for refusal by planning officers ahead of a decisive meeting at Surrey County Council.

From November: Controversial Weylands waste treatment site in Walton recommended for refusal ahead of council meeting next week

Developer Clean Power Properties had eyed up industrial land in Lyon Road for its Weylands Treatments Works, an “autoclave and anaerobic digestion facility”. But the site is close to homes in Molesey Road.

Waste brought to the site from around the county would be compressed in a pressure chamber as part of the 6,000 sq m recycling and waste recycling facility.

The plans, submitted in 2013, also include offices, a staff welfare centre and an education centre.

The site was also earmarked for waste development in Surrey County Council’s waste plan in 2008, along with the former Wisley Airfield site near Cobham.

A petition which attracted more than 1,500 signatures set up by campaign group Weylands No Way added fuel to Elmbridge councillors’ decision to reject the plans in November.

A long-expected report from Surrey County Council, the decisive authority governing waste management, was published on Friday, July 1, which recommended the plans be refused.

Planning officer Samantha Murphy said: “The proposed development is inappropriate and by definition harmful to the green belt and does not preserve openness and conflicts with the purposes of protecting green belt land including protecting the countryside from encroachment and restricting the sprawl of built up areas.”

From November: Petition against waste treatment site proposal in Walton gathers over 1,500 signatures

Insufficient information as to where waste treated at the site would originate from, lack of ‘very special circumstances’ which outweigh harm to the green belt and outdated and insufficient information for ground contamination were further reasons Ms Murphy recommended the plans be refused.

Walton councillor Christine Elmer, who has vocally opposed the development along with Weylands No Way, said: “I welcome a recommendation by Surrey County Council of a refusal.

“It is the interests of my Walton South residents, the wider Walton and Elmbridge area, who stood to be on the receiving end of heavy good vehicles day and night and the threat of totally unacceptable air pollution.

“Refusal by Surrey County Council would ensure the quality of life for residents is not compromised as we had long feared it might be and is a vindication for all those who have campaigned so strongly to stop this happening in a highly residential area.”

Rydens Road resident Mick Flannigan added: “This application is every bit as alarming as the one which was roundly rejected two years ago.

“I cannot believe that a project on this scale would result in less HGV traffic, not more.

From June 2015: Something stinks about Weylands waste treatment application

“Our local road network is totally inadequate for all the waste lorries. Rydens Road, which is directly in the firing line, is an unclassified and wholly residential road - and yet it is targeted as the main thoroughfare for all the HGVs.”

A Clean Power Properties spokesman said last year: "The application provides a unique opportunity to transform a site allocated for waste recycling in the Surrey Waste Plan into a modern, high-tech estate with a suite of planning conditions to ensure all operations are within environmental limits."

Surrey county councillors will have the final say at the planning and regulatory committee meeting on July 13.