More than £4 million is to be spent buying a piece of land to expand a waste transfer station.

Hertfordshire County Council wants to purchase Brookdell Goods Yard which lies next to the Waterdale Recycling Centre on the A405 near Garston.

The council sees it as an opportunity to expands its waste management facilities as well as introduce a new shredding facility to the site.

At a meeting on July 12, the council's Cabinet will be asked to approve a report allowing officers to complete the purchase of the yard.

According to council papers, it will cost £4.55 million and be funded through borrowing. The construction of a bulky waste shredding facility is set to cost a further £1.3 million.

The county council says Brookdell Yard represents a "once in a lifetime opportunity to expand and reconfigure the (Waterdale) site to provide necessary operational improvements and safeguard the most significant asset for waste management in Hertfordshire".

Watford Observer: Waterdale Recycling Centre, also home to Waterdale waste transfer stationWaterdale Recycling Centre, also home to Waterdale waste transfer station

The waste transfer station, which is next door to the recycling centre, is closed to the majority of the public but it is used by lorry drivers.

When the station is busy, it can cause queues on the A405 dual carriageway leading into Waterdale, which recently became a seven-day-a-week recycling centre.

Provision of a newly developed shredding facility, with its own weighbridge, on the Brookdell site could divert up to 40 per cent of vehicle movements from Waterdale to another access point.

In 2019/20, the waste transfer station at Waterdale received 157,894 tonnes of local authority collected waste.

It handles 57 per cent of Hertfordshire’s residual waste and also regularly receives waste from 15 of the county’s recycling centres.

Watford Observer: A bird's eye view of Waterdale. Credit: Google MapsA bird's eye view of Waterdale. Credit: Google Maps

The transfer station, which was built in 1982, is owned by the council and currently operated under contract by FCC Environment until 2026.

Brookdell Yard which lies just south of Waterdale, is privately owned and an offer from the council was accepted by the vendor in April.

The Cabinet will be asked to approve the purchase of Brookdell before being ratified by the full council later in the month.

Councillor Bob Deering, executive member for resources and performance said: "I support this proposal and believe it’s important we plan for managing the county’s waste in the most sustainable way. 

"Capital expenditure schemes like this represent not only a once in a lifetime opportunity to provide necessary operational improvements but will pay dividends for current and future generations by helping deliver on our aims of a greener and more sustainable Hertfordshire."