A CONTROVERSIAL landfill site in Rawtenstall is applying for permission to extend the time it has to complete its restoration.

Horncliffe Quarry, off Bury Road, has applied to extend the time for restoring until December 2007.

The application, which has been made to Lancashire County Council, will be discussed by members of Rossendale development control committee tomorrow.

The operator had been granted a licence to complete works by September 2002, but has blamed a continued decline in the rate of landfill activity and a shortage of suitable capping materials for not completing the works in time.

A letter of objection from a resident living in Haslingden Road has been received by LCC and he suggests that a penalty clause is imposed.

Councillors are being recommended by officers to express concern and dissatisfaction at the significant extension of time not being asked for and that LCC imposes strict conditions to secure the earliest completion date.