Welbeck Landfill Site: Operator seeks two-year extension

The site near Normanton has attracted complaints since it opened in 1998

Waste could continue to be dumped at a controversial landfill site for two more years despite assurances it would close in 2023, campaigners said.

Residents blame Welbeck Landfill Site, near Normanton, for pollution and say dangerous biological waste has been left there.

The operator has confirmed it wants to continue dumping materials at the site until the end of 2025.

Campaigner Paul Dainton described the development as a "betrayal".

The tip has been in operation since 1998 amid claims of bad smells, harm to the land, pollution of the River Calder and the site being used for dumping animals, including a dead whale.

Two years ago, residents and protesters were given assurances the tip would finally close in 2023, with the site then being turned into a country park.

Mr Dainton, chair of Residents Against Toxic Scheme (RATS), the local campaign group that has objected to the landfill site, said: "We have been betrayed time and again by the operators of Welbeck and council officers.

"They swore to us that the tip would be closed once and for all at the end of the year. Now they are coming back for a two-year extension.

"People in Wakefield have had to put up with this for nearly three decades. While ever there is a penny to be made from Welbeck, they won't go away," he added.

Residents say they were given assurances that the tip would finally close in 2023, with the site then being turned into a country park

In a document submitted to Wakefield Council, operator FCC Environment said it wanted to extend the life of the site due to a reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "This, coupled with the significant reductions in the amount of waste produced during the Covid-19 lockdowns, has meant the amount of waste sent to Welbeck has decreased.

"Due to these factors, FCC Environment has not been able to complete the landfill operation and requires an additional two years of activity to meet the requirements set by Wakefield Council and the Environment Agency."

Councillor Jack Hemingway, Wakefield Council Labour group spokesperson for environment and climate change, said: "We have made our commitment to the site clear and it's a matter of public record - it is our intention that Welbeck will become a country park.

"We said in 2021, that this is our long term ambition and it hasn't changed."

Any application would be have to be considered by the council's planning and highways committee.