TOWN councillors have expressed fresh concern over plans to remodel a golf club surface using waste material which has been given the green light by the county council. 

Members of Lyme Regis Town Council’s (LRTC) planning committee have voiced their disappointment that amended plans to reprofile the playing surface at Lyme Regis Golf Club using sand, soil and inert waste, were approved by Dorset County Council's (DCC) regulatory committee.

The amended project will see ground levels increase by up to 2.2m, with work taking place in three separate phases over five years. 

It would also see the tonnage of imported material brought through the town increase by triple the original approved amount from 10,000 to 30,000 per year.

The scheme was granted planning permission by DCC on July 1, 2014, however applicant Lyme Regis Golf Club applied to modify its conditions this year, including the rise in tonnage and an increase in the maximum number of loaded vehicles from 20 to 30 per working day.

LRTC's planning committee wrote a letter to DCC in June recommending refusal of the amended conditions on the grounds that higher tonnage would lead to increased traffic to the site and that the levels of dust would impact local facilities. 

Concerns were also raised by residents over potential noise pollution from lorries coming through the town, and the impact it would have on new homes which have been built 150m away from the site.

However, DCC’s regulatory committee granted permission to the amended plans, citing that there is an ‘unfulfilled need for an inert waste management facility in the locality’ and it is an ‘improvement of an existing recreational facility’.

Cllr Brian Larcombe, chairman of LRTC's planning committee, said: “The tonnage has tripled, and the frequency of vehicles coming through the town will increase, these are our main concerns. 

"It’s only going to be monitored by the applicant.

“We have a role here in listening to residents in the area. Residents are going to have concerns when this comes into place.

“I see no harm in reporting our concerns and writing a letter to the county council.”

Cllr Cheryl Reynolds urged that the committee write to DCC as soon as possible, as work has already begun.