EXTENSION plans have been submitted for a hazardous waste storage facility in Cheshire West.

Cheshire West and Chester Council planning chiefs rubber-stamped proposals for the continued storage of waste material at the underground Minosus facility in May.

The site is based in one of the shafts at Winsford Rock Salt Mine.

The Bostock site is Britain’s oldest and 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. May’s planning decision meant it could continue operating for at least the next 20 years.

The wastes accepted today are predominantly air pollution control residues (‘APCr’) from energy recovery facilities and soda slag streams from battery recycling.

The company which operates the site – Veolia – has now submitted a planning application for extensions and alterations to the above ground infrastructure.

It includes extensions to the existing warehouse buildings to facilitate the increased reception and bagging of APCr, extensions to yard areas to facilitate improved vehicular movement and to provide additional on-site capacity for the stacking of vehicles.

A planning statement submitted in support of the plans said no increase in the quantities of wastes received at the site beyond the currently permitted amounts was proposed, adding it was not anticipated the number of deliveries or HGV on-off movements at the site would increase either.

It said: “The site has been operating since 2005 without any adverse impacts on the environment. The potential environmental impacts of the proposed development have been thoroughly assessed in accordance with relevant guidance from the respective environmental institutions.

"Where necessary and appropriate, embedded and additional mitigation has been identified which, as a result, ensures that there would be no unacceptable adverse impacts arising from the proposals.”

No date has yet been set for a decision.