GARGRAVE Parish Council is hoping the ending of a farm's permits by the Environment Agency to accept waste materials will mean fewer heavy vehicles coming through the village.

Parish councillors and residents have long raised concerns by the amount of vehicles delivering material to Kelber Farm, off Church Road, at the edge of the village.

An Environment Agency spokesperson told the Craven Herald: “Following regulatory visits to a site near Skipton, we have removed the company’s waste exemptions as they are no longer necessary for the construction works taking place.

"This means the site is now not authorised to accept any waste material. “We continue to regulate the site and assess all reports of illegal waste activity, to inform further investigations. We are also working with North Yorkshire Council to offer advice and guidance where required."

John Whitelock, director of Whitelock Development Ltd, who lives at Kelber Farm, told the Herald that was right that the exemptions were now no longer in place, and added that both the planning authority and the Environment Agency had visited the farm while work was taking place.

He said: "The work was construction of a new agricultural building and yard area. In order to create a flat access and yard area from the other farm buildings some imported materials - soils and granular fill - were used. As is usual those imports were either virgin, new material, or recovered materials which reduce the environmental footprint of the scheme because we are not quarrying out virgin resources.

"In visits during and on completion of the project we are happy to confirm that the North Yorkshire Council and Environment Agency were happy with the scheme and how it was delivered. We are happy that as the project is now complete the exemptions can and should be de-registered – because the project is complete. That is usually how the system works."

Anyone who believes they may have seen waste crime in their area, can report it to our 24/7 incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60, or anonymously via Crimestoppers online or by calling 0800 555111.”