Plans to restore a landfill site near Barrow may take three more years due to a shortage of soil.
FCC Environment wants to extend the time it has to complete the restoration of Bennett Bank Landfill Facility as over 10,000 tonnes of material needs to be imported.
It has until June 30 to restore the land, but has applied to Westmorland and Furness Council for the extension because it said due to the shortage, it had not been possible to restore the site in accordance with the current agreed timeframe.
A site survey in March identified that there was 38,680 cubic metres of restoration soil to be imported to the site to complete the approved restoration. FCC Environment said it would take two years to import the soil.
A further 12 months would then be required to complete the restoration.
The planning statement adds: “Dependent upon the availability of restoration material, it is possible the site could be restored in a shorter period than the aforementioned timescales.”
The site is located off Hawthwaite Lane, five kilometres north east of Barrow and 2.5 kilometres north west of Dalton.
Bennett Bank started operating in 1972. The landfill accepted non-hazardous municipal, commercial and industrial waste. Waste importation has stopped as the site is being restored.
For many years, the site provided a clinical waste transfer facility – a lockable container used for the receipt, storage and bulked removal of clinical waste.
Planning permission was then granted in 2018 to allow the disposal of waste and storage of fridges and clinical waste until December 31 2019, with plans to restore the facility by December 31 2021.
Subsequently a planning application in 2021 permitted the use of the site as a clinical waste facility until June 30 2022 and to restore the site by that date.
Then another planning application was granted to allow the use of the site as a clinical waste facility and for the restoration of this site by June 30 2024.
The application to extend the restoration of the site is currently being considered by Westmorland and Furness Council.
