Public inquiry to be held over waste site operation

Permission to run the site near South Elmsall, for another 10 years was rejected by Wakefield Council

A public inquiry is to be held after plans to extend the life of a waste recycling facility were rejected amid complaints from residents about a "putrid stench".

Operator Minore lodged an appeal after Wakefield Council refused an application to allow it to keep running the site in South Elmsall for another 10 years.

The decision came after hundreds of residents complained about the smell, dust and litter coming from the Hacking Lane facility.

The Planning Inspectorate will hold a four-day hearing from 11 November.

Minore, also known as Mineral Processing Ltd, has also appealed a decision by the Environment Agency (EA) to remove its licence over concerns the facility was causing a health hazard.

The regulator issued a permit revocation notice, which came into effect on 4 July, after an inspector said excessive amounts of hazardous material stored at the land had created multiple health risks.

A report said the facility also posed a risk to nearby watercourses, including Frickley Beck, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The permit had allowed a maximum of 50,000 tonnes to be stored at the facility.

According to documents, almost five times the permitted amount of materials had been stored on the land.

However, information provided by Minore between 2016 and 2023 revealed there were 233,772 tonnes at the site.

A spokesperson for the operator said: "Currently the site is excavating materials and processing them, which is not in contravention of the notices issued by the EA but in compliance with them.

"The company samples the water regularly as part of the monitoring regime and has found no effect on Frickley Beck when taking water samples."

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