A QUARRY owner's word without his bond is not good enough for planning chiefs who are set to turn down a waste collection scheme in Rossendale.

County council development control bosses were prepared to give temporary permission for Little Tooter Hill Quarry, Bacup, to be used for the storage and distribution of waste paper -- a scheme which would raise the cash for the long-awaited restoration of the site. But they called for an up-front £10,000 bond to guarantee that restoration and landscaping would be carried out.

But a report to Wednesday's meeting of he committee says the applicant had failed to come up with the cash and officers were not satisfied the site work would be carried out. Recommending members to reject the application, they state: "Failure to provide a bond would suggest that the operator would be unable to restore the site within an acceptable timescale which would conflict with the aims of Development Plan policies regarding the early restoration of minerals sites."

They said they previously held concerns over the waste collection having a detrimental affect on open countryside and local houses.

However, it was felt on balance improvement of the site outweighed the planning concerns for a short period while restoration went ahead.

Now, without agreement, the balance had changed and they have recommended refusal of the application while the county council investigates other ways of achieving reclamation of a quarry with a long history of enforcement problems.