A LANDFILL firm will be ordered to stop tipping at a Radcliffe waste site after planners finally lost patience with operators.

An order to remove more than 70,000 cubic metres of excess debris from Tower Farm could be made after an application to extend dumping was turned down.

However, tipping may continue for several months, pending the outcome of any appeal.

Five years ago, householders in Bury Street mounted a campaign against plans to fill the 50-acre waste land site with 700,000 cubic metres of builders' rubble.

They objected to noise, dust and heavy lorry traffic.

Proposals by landowners Anthony Construction included landscaping for a golf course and cricket pitches. Work took longer than expected and in 2001 an application to extend tipping by two years was lodged with Bury Council.

Despite negotiations ahead of any decision, tipping by operators New Soils Reclamation has continued until now. Planners objected to permission, citing evidence that too much material had already been deposited.

At a meeting of Bury's planning control committee on Tuesday (11Nov), the company argued that the additional material was needed for infilling. They asked to continue tipping at the site, currently serviced by 75 lorry trips per day.

Application agent David Appleton argued that the firm's own reports showed limits had not been breached. Mr Appleton said: "Even if the site had been overtipped, across a 50-acre site it would amount to only a 15-inch increase in height.

"We believe this site is of extreme importance to Bury and of particular importance to Radcliffe. Some of the land could be used as playing fields."

However, Bury Council's chief planning officer Brian Daniel told the committee that a survey by Greater Manchester Geological Unit calculated 72,700 cubic metres of excess waste was on the land.

Mr Daniel said: "There is no ambiguity in the data and surplus material is on the site. Since the firm conducted its own survey, tipping at the site has continued."

Councillors refused permission for further tipping, and the owners could be ordered to remove excess waste. The matter is now in the hands of council solicitors, with no appeal yet lodged.

Local resident Mr David Coates led a campaign against the dumping on behalf of householders and Radcliffe Hall CE Methodist school, of which he is a former governor. Mr Coates said: "I would be happy to see it coming to an end because the locals and the school have been messed about enough. The dust problem and traffic nuisances have been horrendous, for the school in particular. I will be interested to see what happens at the site, given everything that was promised originally."