Welbeck Landfill Site: Date confirmed for public inquiry over waste tipping ban

A five-day Planning Inspectorate hearing over Welbeck Landfill Site will start on June 4.

Tip operator Welbeck Waste Management Ltd (WWML) has made a legal challenge after its application to continue tipping at the site for two extra years was refused.

The council’s planning and highways committee voted against the scheme last November.

The decision meant that tipping would have to end on December 31, 2023.

The operator, also known as FCC Environment, appealed to the Planning Inspectorate against an enforcement notice served by the council.

The site, which has been in operation for more than 25 years, is due to be transformed into a country park.

In March, senior councillors agreed to spend £275,000 on the first phase of work to transform the site near Normanton into a “must-see destination”.

But a report said there was “a level of uncertainty” around the timeline for completion of the landfill operations due to the legal challenge.

WWML previously said it needs more time to fill the remaining capacity at the site due to a shortage of materials going to landfill.

The operator said it “would not be providing any commentary” after the appeal was confirmed.

The announcement angered protesters who have campaigned for its closure for decades

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

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Residents and protesters were previously given assurances it would finally close in December 2023.

Paul Dainton, president of Residents Against Toxic Scheme (RATS), said: “The decision to appeal has nothing whatsoever to do with environmental issues.

“It is simply about profit, profit, profit for a few individuals.”

“For 27 years, the local population has endured massive issues of dust, stench, water pollution, litter, endless breaches of rules and continuous fly infestations.

“The decision to appeal the planning application refusal is a disgrace and an affront to local democracy.”

All eleven members of the planning committee rejected the application last year.

Jack Hemingway, the council’s deputy leader and portfolio holder for climate change and environment, spoke against the scheme at the time.

He told the meeting: “It’s a story of promises made, of failures to predict waste levels, of extension after extension, far beyond the site’s originally planned operation.“You have a chance to change that today – to turn something negative for our environment into a positive.”

Members of the public can attend the inquiry at Wakefield Town Hall and can express their views at the hearing, at the discretion of the Inspector.