THE controversial underground dumping of hazardous waste in a Cheshire West town looks set to continue for at least another two decades.

Cheshire West and Chester Council planning chiefs are recommended to approve proposals for the continued storage of the material at Winsford Rock Salt Mine on Jack Lane in Bostock when it meets next week.

The site is Britain’s only working salt mine which is used to mine rock salt for icy roads, and has been operating since 1844.

But in 2004, then deputy Prime Minister John Prescott gave permission for one of its shafts to be used for the storage of hazardous material. It followed a public inquiry and fierce opposition from some local politicians and residents at the time.

The project originally received permission in 2002 after Cheshire County Council referred it to the secretary of state for a second opinion. But that was quashed in 2003 on a legal technicality, after a local resident's High Court challenge. But the deputy PM eventually gave the go-ahead saying it was the ‘the most sustainable method’ for disposing of the waste.

That permission is due to run out in 2025, but Cheshire West planning chiefs are recommended to approve extending it until 2045 when they meet on May 10.

A report to the planning committee, said: “The current permission meets the capacity needs, and therefore there is a continued capacity need for the development, for the appropriate final disposal of hazardous wastes as set out within the proposed timeframe.

"The proposal would help ensure that the country as a whole has sufficient disposal capacity to meet the waste arisings generated.”

The No.4 shaft – known as Minosus – is operated by waste and utilities company Veolia. The waste is mainly solid ash formed from contaminants generated by exhaust gases at energy recovery facilities, and soda slag streams from battery recycling.

The 170m deep mine was classed as ideal for the waste with its dry caverns stretching over five square miles. When permission was originally granted, less than eight per cent of the mine's 23m cubic metres of space was expected to be filled with waste by 2024.