CONTROVERSIAL plans for an integrated waste management centre near Scorton are expected to be approved next week, even though an alternative site near Thirsk has been suggested for investigation by a Government inspector.

A dispute which has been simmering for two years between Scorton villagers, other interested parties and the Northallerton-based company Yorwaste comes to a head on Tuesday when North Yorkshire planning committee is asked to make a final decision.

The county council maintains that a decision on a tip and recycling centre in the northern part of North Yorkshire is needed soon because existing sites are rapidly filling up.

The issues involved in the Yorwaste application for Scorton were so complicated, however, that in March last year the committee deferred a decision on whether the site should be included in the North Yorkshire local waste plan until the Environment Agency could comment on ground water implications.

Three months later, when a reply had still not been received from the agency, it was agreed that the site should be deleted from the waste plan because the delay was affecting the progress of the plan through its remaining statutory stages.

When the comments of the agency were eventually received it was decided that the Tancred Quarry application should be held in abeyance and a decision should finally be made on its merits.

That decision was followed in June this year by a public inquiry into the revised draft local waste plan, at which the county council invited the inspector's interim comments on the Tancred Quarry application.

The inspector's conclusions, to be reported to the committee on Tuesday, were that the county council should thoroughly examine the size and scale of the area needed for landfill in the northern part of the county.

The inspector reported that the county council should consider Tancred Quarry only after assessing whether Asenby Quarry, near Thirsk, could meet the need for additonal landfill in the northern half of the county.

The inspector added that the county council should also consider objections raised to the Tancred Quarry allocation, including impact on the landscape, and on schemes for leisure and recreation mentioned in the Richmondshire local plan.

But Mike Moore, county council environmental services director, says in a report to the committee on Tuesday that the Government advises that determination of planning applications should not be delayed unnecessarily.

He adds that the main environmental consultees have raised no objections to the Scorton scheme and permission should be given because there is an overriding need for the development and there are no alternative methods available for treating the waste. He says that any potential impact on nearby houses can be controlled by appropriate conditions.