A CONTROVERSIAL expansion of a landfill site near York will go ahead despite strong local opposition.

City of York Council members approved plans to increase the Harewood Whin waste disposal site by 28 hectares and expand its life by 13 years in December.

As the site of the proposed development was on green belt land it was referred to the Secretary of State, who could have called in the application.

But he has decided to stand by the council's decision and will not be holding a public inquiry.

Rufforth resident Peter Warden, who is a member of Residents Against Lunacy Landfill in York (RALLY), said he was disgusted by the decision not to hold an inquiry.

The protest group had collected a 77-signature petition against the plans, claiming the development was unsuitable for green belt land.

Mr Warden said: "I find it absolutely unbelievable that they haven't called the application in. In seven or eight years' time any nasty waste that needs dumping will come to York.

"I believe that democracy has been completely bypassed. We always thought that consent would be given in one form or another, but we thought there would be an inquiry and we would get to have our say." Yorwaste currently uses the site for recycling construction and demolition waste, wood and cardboard, composting green waste, landfill and recovering energy from landfill gas.

Harewood Whin has landfill space until the end of 2004, but the new expansion will allow it to be used for landfill for another 13 years.

Yorwaste managing director Steve Grieve welcomed the Secretary of State's decision, but pledged to work closely with residents of Rufforth and Knapton to make sure any adverse environmental effects caused by the scheme were kept to a minimum.

He said: "We are extremely pleased that the Secretary of State has decided not to call in the application and we are now in discussions with the Environment Agency regarding the waste management licence.

"We always operate to extremely high environmental standards and although landfill space is needed for York in the foreseeable future, we expect recycling and composting to increase substantially at this site, reducing the amount of waste landfilled."

Work on the expansion is due to start later this year.

Updated: 10:00 Monday, May 05, 2003