Great Blakenham landfill site end date set to pave way for Valley Ridge

A timetable to end operations at a landfill site to pave the way for a water and winter sports and holiday park has been approved.

Suffolk County Council agreed the Masons site at Great Blakenham, near Ipswich, should continue operating until December 2030.

Developers want to build Valley Ridge, which replaced the SnOasis project, on a neighbouring site.

A Valley Ridge spokesman said they were "analysing" the council's decision.

The council said the date for landfill operations to cease had been the "sticking point" for when the proposed leisure project could proceed.

Conservative councillor Richard Smith, cabinet member for economic development, transport strategy and waste, said: "I am pleased the committee has resolved to approve this application, which would set a new end date for the final restoration of Masons Landfill and which could facilitate the proposed Valley Ridge development."

The council said the decision made by its development and regulation committee was subject to it not being called in by the the secretary of state at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Masons Landfill is a 70-hectare former quarry where waste operations have been ongoing since the 1990s.

It accepts non-hazardous business and household waste, as well as hazardous waste such as asbestos - one of two sites in the county that does.

Its operator had sought to continue landfill operations until 31 October 2035, with a landscape restoration period to be completed by 31 October 2037.

But members were told the identified need to continue landfilling at the site was expected to decline beyond 2030.

A leisure scheme featuring an indoor ski slope with artificial snow was first mooted in 2001, when it was called SnOasis, and permission was granted by the government in 2010 following a public inquiry, but the permissions lapsed.

SnOasis was again granted planning permission by the local authority Mid Suffolk District Council in 2020, and a rejigged scheme, called Valley Ridge and still featuring a ski slope, was outlined in 2021.

The district council said it understood Valley Ridge was considering what its next steps would be in relation to the planning permission that was granted in 2020.

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