Environmental campaigner casts doubt on plan to turn Wakefield's Welbeck Landfill Site into a country park

Wakefield Council this week confirmed that Welbeck would be given back to nature.

Paul Dainton, president of RATS (Residents Against Toxic Scheme) wants all of the site to be completed to a high standard and feared certain parts of the site would be neglected.

He believed the eastern and northern parts of the site would be left as scrub, and that parts of the restoration would not be up to the standard agreed when the waste management site first opened.

Mr Dainton said: “The announcement could be a step in the right direction but I want to see the plans.

“I think they will try to walk away with as little restoration as possible.”

Mr Dainton believes a public inquiry should be held into the handling of the facility. He said he was frustrated that RATS had not been a part of discussions.

And he hoped footpaths at the site would “immediately” be designated as public footpaths.

Site operator FCC was controversially granted planning permission to continue working at the site in 2018, despite residents being promised the project would finish in 2008.

The company has a deal to stay on the site, which is located just west of the River Calder, until 2033.

But in 2018 they insisted that the park would be completed before then, after sufficient amounts of waste had been tipped to form the foundations.

FCC has been approached for comment.