COUNCILLORS are being asked to back further use of a waste tip near Harrogate.

Members of North Yorkshire County Council planning committee are recommended to approve a five-year extension for the High Rails Farm landfill site, at Ripley, for High Rails Farmers.

The applicants also want to extend working hours to between 7.30am and 6pm Mondays to Saturdays.

But Mike Moore, the county's director of environmental services, has proposed 7.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 7.30am to 12.30pm on Saturdays with no work allowed on Sundays or public holidays.

The site, which is used for disposing waste materials, crushing and recycling materials, is south of Ripley off the A61 and close to the disused Harrogate-Pateley Bridge railway line, near the former Ripley station.

Permission to dispose waste materials was originally granted for five years but had since been extended.

Councillors will consider the application next Tuesday.

A report said Harrogate Borough Council and Killinghall Parish Council were both consulted about the application on June 17, but there had been no response in either case.

There have been no objections from the Environment Agency or the county highways department.

Mike Moore said the site had not seen the high volume of waste materials experienced in its initial stages.

"However this site has the potential to continue to play a valuable role in providing a suitable site for the disposal of wholly inert materials within the Harrogate area," he said.

Mr Moore also said access had been changed to improve the amount of privacy enjoyed by a resident of a bungalow at the former Ripley railway station yard.