North Yorkshire Council has approved plans for Drax Power Ltd to extract up to 23.5 million tonnes of ash from a 161-hectare disposal site near Selby. The recovery project, which will supply material for construction products like concrete, is slated to continue until 2045 before site restoration wraps up in 2055.
The massive disposal mound, sitting immediately north-west of the Drax Power Station, reaches up to 39 metres (128ft) and has been used for ash deposits from Drax since the 1970s. Under the newly approved scheme, the recovered ash will be used for use in construction products such as concrete, reducing the need for virgin aggregates, with extraction continuing until 2045 and restoration completed by 2055. But getting the green light from local planners required navigating steep community pushback over how the extraction would affect daily life near Selby. Objections from three people cited concerns about dust, noise, lighting, air pollution and the impact on the landscape. Concerns were also raised about habitat loss, the scale and duration of the scheme, and the removal of screening that helps shield Drax Power Station from nearby communities, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
North Yorkshire Council Imposes Strict Limits on Working Hours and Rail Transport
While North Yorkshire Council ultimately approved the application by Drax Power Ltd, it imposed conditions on when the site could be worked following concerns from residents. Residents had raised flags over potential dust, noise, lighting, air pollution, and landscape degradation. Concerns also touched on habitat loss and the stripping away of screening vegetation that shields the power station from neighboring communities.
The initial operating schedule proposed by developers drew sharp criticism from local leadership. Councillor Mark Crane, whose area includes Barlow, said proposals that the site was to operate 18 hours a day, from 06:00 until midnight, seven days a week excluding bank holidays, “blew his mind”.
“To expect them to accept that they can work from six in the morning till midnight every single day of the year is, I’m sorry, completely unreasonable.”
Mark Crane, local councillor
Responding to those friction points, the planning committee reined in the operational window. The planning committee agreed the site could only be worked from 08:00 until 20:00, excluding Sundays and bank holidays. Additionally, the committee also agreed a condition to ensure that 65% of the ash was transported by rail with the remainder removed by road.
Barlow Parish Council Weighs In on Mitigation and Village Quality of Life
Local governance representatives acknowledged the industrial logic of clearing the historic ash mound while pressing for ironclad protections for nearby residents. Councillor Tim Thrall, from Barlow Parish Council, who spoke at the planning meeting, said in principle they had no objection to the removal of the ash mound.
“no objection to the removal of the ash mound.”
Tim Thrall, Barlow Parish Council
That pragmatic acceptance came paired with a warning about the realities of living next to a decades-long extraction project. He added: However, we do have a number of concerns about whether mitigation measures are enough to impact the quality of life of the residents of the village.
To address those environmental and community pressures, Council officers concluded that, subject to conditions, the development would not result in unacceptable impacts on residents, highways, ecology, air quality or the water environment. The approval was also subject to a legal agreement that includes a £200,000 fund to help mitigate its impact on the surrounding landscape.
Decades-Long Timeline Ahead for Selby Ash Extraction
The scale of rummaging through the 39-metre (128ft) mound—which spans 398 acres—guarantees that the landscape north-west of Selby will see industrial activity for generations. With extraction slated to run continuously until 2045, operators face a multi-decade timeline to harvest the up to 23.5 million tonnes of ash. Once the excavation finishes, final site restoration is scheduled to wrap up in 2055, effectively closing a chapter on decades of industrial ash disposal at the facility since the 1970s.
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