THE life of a gravel and landfill site looks set to be extended.

Dorset County Council planning chiefs are being asked to approve plans by G Crook and Sons to continue to extract gravel at the pit at Redbridge in Crossways, as well as continuing to use the site for landfill.

However, a meeting of the county council's planning committee will be told that if permission is granted work would have to be completed by December 2005 when the whole site must be restored.

A report to Friday's meeting says that as part of the application the firm, which already operates a landfill and recycling facility at the pit, wants to extract two areas of gravel and one area of sand. The applicant also hopes to continue to use the site for its recycling facility.

Councillors will be told that the eastern, western and southern parts of the pit have already been extracted and the areas restored for agricultural use. The three areas form part of the boundary of the proposed site, which is next to the Crossways Scout Camp at Brownjohn Copse.

And the site is across the road from the proposed site of a 750-home development planned for Moreton Pit.

In a report to the committee, head of planning Andrew Price said: "The site has been operating as an inert landfill for over ten years, planning permission having been renewed a number of times. Large parts of the site have already been restored and used for grazing, restoration work being to a good standard."

He said that by granting permission to extract the gravel and sand from within the areas remaining to be filled, extra space for landfill would be created. He added that the additional traffic generated by the extraction would be small and no objection is being raised by the highways adviser.

"The removal of the material would provide some additional void space for filling but would not significantly prolong the use of the site for filling," said Mr Price.

He said that if permission is granted the road serving the site would be moved away from the scout camp and an earth bund to mask the site would be created.

Crossways Parish Council has raised no objections to the proposal, subject to the safety of the scouts being addressed.

Mr Price has recommended the plan be approved subject to a string of conditions.

He adds: "Approval of this application would permit the completion of restoration at this site.

"If members are minded to approve this application, then I would recommend that a letter be sent to the applicant to the effect that members would be unlikely to look favourably on a proposal to retain recycling/storage facilities beyond the life of the land filling operation."