A CLAY quarrying company has pledged not to use a Selby excavation site for landfill once it closes in 2009.

The Escrick clay workings site, near Selby, has been included in a list of potential landfill sites by North Yorkshire County Council.

But the quarry adjoins the former brick and tile works site, where work is about to begin on Escrick Business Park, which will create up to 500 office and light industrial jobs.

Brian Percival, Selby District Council's economic boss, said using the quarry as a landfill would be "catastrophic", given its proximity to the new business park.

He said: "To my mind, this is one of the most catastrophic suggestions we could have. Why put a waste plant behind a new office park? It defies logic to consider placing a landfill site there - having all that rubbish around would not be attractive to businesses looking to base themselves at the park." The site has been included in the county council's Mineral And Waste Development Framework, which outlines potential landfill and recycling sites in North Yorkshire.

Plasmoor Ltd, based in Great Heck, near Selby, owns the Escrick clay workings site, just south of Escrick, and west of the A19.

Managing director Julian Slater has now pledged to work with the county council to carry out restoration work on the site without using landfill. "Currently the restoration scheme for the quarry involves landfilling with household waste," he said. We don't want to do that. We want some kind of low-level restoration, and then landscaping to provide some biodiversity in the area.

"The site was used for household waste in the early 1990s and we knew this would be a sensitive issue."

Liz Casling, who is a district and county councillor for Escrick, said: "I'd be fairly worried if the site was to be used for landfill."

Charles Vyvyan, an associate director at S Harrison Development, the firm building the business park, said: "We're excited about the landscaping options they are considering which recommend the use of recycled material to create a possible recreation facility and nature reserve."