Work is set to continue at a building waste recycling company in Northwich after the council granted planning permission.

UK Aggregates & Plant Ltd on Wincham Lane had been operating for nearly 10 years, but was told it needed permission for part of its work relating to the factory production of what is called ‘secondary aggregate’ - materials created by the recycling of building waste which can include things like sand and gravel.

The part retrospective permission was sought for the mechanical processing and recovery of up to 37,500 tonnes per year of non-hazardous construction, demolition and excavation (CDE) wastes.

CDE wastes are collected and delivered to the site by hired skips, a ‘Muckaway’ grab hire service and tipper HGVs from both commercial and domestic sources in Northwich and surrounding area.

Heavy goods vehicle (HGV) movements (including skip and grab hire vehicles) to the site would be up to 50 per day.

The plant typically recycles up to 90 per cent of waste received, producing up to approximately 33,750 tonnes of recycled/secondary aggregates per year, including reclaimed sand, grit sand, gravel, crushed concrete and topsoil.

Residual wastes from the process, including silt, wood and metals and other non-conforming wastes are stored in skips and sent to disposal and recovery sites.

The  storage capacity of wastes on the site at any one time is  10,000 tonnes, and with maximum stockpile height of 7m for unprocessed materials and 2.2m for processed material.

Part of the planning application was also for the erection of a new, enclosed workshop canopy/shelter building and the retention of a two-storey modular office building and single modular toilet building.

The hours of operation for the site are advised to be 7.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday 7.30am to 1pm Saturday and no operations Sundays or public holidays.

The site forms one of the units of the New Cheshire Business Park which was formed as part of the restoration of former lime beds and employs nine staff.

The officer’s report, said: "In accordance with guidance, the proposed recycling and preparation of construction and demolition (CDE) wastes for reuse as secondary aggregates would - by driving waste away from disposal to their recovery, recycling and reuse - deal with waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy."

Waste hierarchy ranks waste management options according to what is best for the environment.