Ellesmere landfill closure would cost 70 jobs

Company bosses applying to extend the life of a Shropshire landfill site say 70 jobs would be put at risk if they were forced to close the site.

Tudor Griffiths issued the warning in response to opposition from Welshampton and Lyneal Parish Council to the firm's plans to use its Spunhill site, near Ellesmere, for another 24 years. It insists continuing landfill will not impact further on the local area.

At Monday night's parish meeting, councillors formally objected to the plans, insisting promises had been broken to restore the landfill site to fields by 2010.

But bosses at the company say the council should consider that there had been fundamental changes in the way in which waste is deposited in the UK in the last 15 years.

Stuart Lawrence, group estates manager for the firm, said: "The continuance of the landfill development will not result in any new changes to the local landscape nor create any fresh environmental impact.

"To cease landfilling will mean that a new site will have to be opened elsewhere in the county and would leave a development at Wood Lane only two thirds completed.

"Furthermore, the threat of closure of operations at the site will put 70 jobs at risk in the locality.

"Tudor Griffiths is conscious that the operation is sensitive but has always operated with the local community in mind.

"We therefore hope the Welshampton and Lyneal Parish Council can see the benefits the site has to the local economy and will consider their stance regarding the planning application carefully."

The firm wants Shropshire Council to allow it to continue sending non-hazardous waste to landfill.

Bosses have applied to vary the conditions, namely the time limits, of the existing permission to operate the landfill site, which was granted in 1995 and expired on December 31, 2010.

A report for the firm says a further 1,062,000 cubic metres of landfill space would be opened up for non-hazardous waste if the plan is approved.

By James Pugh