Landfill site agreed near Dorset World Heritage coast in Portland

The quarry has been in use since 1890 and intermittently since 1951

A landfill waste site with a capacity of nearly a million tonnes has been agreed for a quarry just metres from a World Heritage coastal site.

Dorset Council approved an application from Portland Stone Ltd to use the site at Coombefield Quarry North, off Southwell Road on the Isle of Portland.

The company said up to 60,000 tonnes could be dumped each year, more than half of it commercial or industrial.

The application attracted 17 letters of support and one objection.

The objection concerned the possibility of additional traffic being attracted to the island to use the facility, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

It added that Portland Town Council was among those in support of the application.

Portland Stone's annual estimates of how much waste could be deposited would give the operation around 17 years until the quarry is full, LDRS said.

Portland Town Council was among those in support of the application

The site is 420 metres to the north east of Southwell and 730 metres to the south of Easton and 20 metres away from the World Heritage coast and sites of scientific or natural interest.

The agreement includes the relocation of the existing waste management facilities at Broadcroft Quarry to Coombefield Quarry.

Buildings on the site would be replaced with a waste reception, processing building and hard standing area, said LDRS.

The quarry has been used intermittently since 1951 with the south quarry now having a mine for the continued extraction of stone.