PLANS to build an industrial waste centre on a former mine near York have been rejected.

The scheme would have seen 75,000 tonnes of waste a year recycled at a new plant on the former Stillingfleet mine between the villages of Cawood, Stillingfleet and Escrick.

North Yorkshire County Council had agreed in 1979 that the site would be restored to agriculture 12 months after the mine closed.

And councillors from the authority yesterday rejected plans - submitted by Haworth Estates - to turn it into a waste centre.

Residents objected to the plans on the grounds of health impacts and road safety fears.

After the vote Stillingfleet councillor Richard Musgrave said he was thrilled with the decision as it had lifted a cloud of uncertainty that had hung for many years over residents.

He said the proposal had been “totally unsuitable” due to its scale and isolated location and called on Harworth Estates to completely rethink how the site could be used in the future.

Neighbours and councillors highlighted the council’s failure to enforce planning conditions imposed on the site in the 1970s to return it to arable farm use after the mine closed in 2004.

Cllr John McCartney said: “I really think it is something the council should be a bit ashamed about, maybe should apologise. But it also means you have a lot of angry residents, wound up because they feel betrayed."

Planning officers said it had not been considered “expedient, reasonable or in the public interest” to pursue enforcement action as the landowner had demolished 75 per cent of the buildings on the site, despite a large area of it remaining covered in concrete hardstanding.

An agent for Harworth Estates said the opportunity to have the site restored to agricultural land was no longer available “for whatever reason”. The agent said an unused site would be a wasted asset, adding: “It would be hard to find a more suitable site for recycling.”

Planning officers said the centre would not lead to unacceptable impacts on road safety, but several councillors said they felt residents would inevitably be affected by dust from the operation.