Legal battles continue for the County of Simcoe’s plan to build an Environmental Resource Recovery Centre in Springwater.

Recently, the plan to build an organics sorting plant in the Freele Tract of the Simcoe County Forest, after a (LPAT).

But now, the Friends of Simcoe Forests has filed a new divisional court challenge after learning that issues related to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe were stricken from the appeal.

“We believe (this decision) was intended to circumvent the normal planning rules from applying to our case,” Friends president Mary Wagner said in a press release. It “has eviscerated our core grounds of appeal.”

Plans for the facility at 2976 Horseshoe Valley Rd. W. have been on hold since the Friends group filed the appeal in 2019, taking aim at the site-selection process, noise, odour and noting that the woodland is home to endangered species and should remain untouched.

Construction on the project is set to begin in January 2023.