‘We have been betrayed’: Outrage as Welbeck landfill site operator seeks two-year extension to tip waste

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

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

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.

Paul Dainton, chair of Residents Against Toxic Scheme (RATS), the local campaign group who have objected to the landfill site throughout its lifetime, described the latest development as a ‘betrayal’.

He said: “We have been betrayed time and again by the operators of Welbeck and council officers.

“After years and years of lies, 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.

“It is purely about profit. It is just disgraceful,” he said.

FCC Environment, also known as Welbeck Waste Management Ltd (WWML), currently has permission to tip waste at the site until December 2023.

An extension would allow time for almost 50,000 tonnes of waste to be dumped at the site.

In a document submitted to Wakefield Council, the company says it wants to extend the life of the site due to a reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill.

It also says Covid-19 has led to less waste going to the site.

FCC Environment is yet to submit a formal planning application to the council.

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

Mr Dainton added: “We have been told specifically for the past four years that once the contract comes to an end there will be no more tipping.

“We had been looking forward to finally getting spades into the ground and turning this site into a treasured public asset.

“We had even been planning where the new fish ponds and footpaths would be going for people to enjoy.

“Now we are faced with this bombshell. It is devastating and feels like it is never going to end.

“For some reason these decisions will not be made until after the local elections.”

A spokesperson for FCC Environment said: “The quantity of waste sent to landfill in the UK has continued to decrease, with increased volumes being recycled or converted into green energy.

“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. "Of course, like many local people, I want to see this happen sooner rather than later so the continued operation of the site by FCC is not something we want. "If we get to the point that FCC put in an application, it will have to be dealt with through the proper process, in the meantime we are cracking on with work to create the country park.” Run by a private company on a lease from the local authority, Welbeck was originally supposed to be restored to a public green space in 2008.< In 2021, the council accelerated plans to convert the site into a country park once the last waste is tipped there. A “warts and all” report published in the same year by the council laid bare a number of details about its relationship with the operator. The local authority also publicly admitted making mistakes in its handling of the tip. Revelations in the report included how the company avoided paying rent for several years.