Seletia (F) Ltd, the owners of the Flusco landfill site just outside Penrith, has applied to massively increase the amount of waste the site can accept each year — from 66,000 tonnes to half a million tonnes.
The landfill site near Newbiggin is currently unable to accept new waste following Environment Agency enforcement action, but documents now published by the the environment agency as part of an application to vary the sites permits reveal the scale of the operation Seletia (F) Ltd wants to undertake if the permit variation is approved.
The proposed increase would allow up to 500,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste a year, compared with the existing annual limit of 66,000 tonnes.
The application also seeks to increase the annual limit for inert waste from 25,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes, while the limit for waste used for restoration would also rise from 25,000 to 200,000 tonnes a year.
The proposed changes would not increase the overall physical capacity of the landfill, according to Seletia's application. Instead, the company wants permission to fill the existing permitted capacity at a dramatically faster rate.
Its market assessment says the higher throughput would allow it to "accelerate completion of landfilling and restoration" and reduce the length of time the site remains operational. It also says Seletia has existing waste supply contracts and expects demand from across the region, including the potential for waste coming from southern Scotland.
But the application comes at a highly contentious time for the Flusco site.
The Environment Agency issued an Enforcement Notice against Seletia (F) Ltd in October 2025 after inspections identified significant non-compliance with environmental permit conditions. A Suspension Notice followed in December, preventing the company from accepting further waste.
Seletia (F) Ltd appealed against the action, but a Government-appointed inspector upheld the regulator's intervention earlier this year. The revised enforcement measures require the operator to address issues including landfill engineering, gas management, leachate and monitoring, while excess waste is also required to be dealt with before operations can resume.
The inspector's findings followed complaints from residents about odour, waste levels and other impacts from the site. The appeal hearing heard evidence concerning approximately 118,000 tonnes of excess waste, which had resulted in waste being deposited substantially higher than permitted.
Now, as that regulatory battle continues, Seletia is asking the Environment Agency to approve an operation capable of accepting more than seven times the current annual non-hazardous waste limit.
The company's own documents acknowledge that Flusco is close to residential and tourist locations.
A Dust Management Plan prepared for Seletia (F) Ltd identifies **Newbiggin ** in the direction considered most at risk from dust because of the prevailing winds.
The plan lists vehicle movements, waste storage, landfill operations and engineering works among the potential sources of dust.
It proposes measures including a 5mph site speed limit, wheel washing, sheeting of vehicles, water bowsers, road sweeping and the suspension of operations during exceptionally dry or windy conditions if visible dust is escaping from the site.
The application to the Environment Agency also contain a specific recognition that a major increase in throughput would mean more frequent waste deliveries and greater operational activity at the landfill site.
Seletia (F) Ltd says that would be balanced by completing the landfill more quickly and installing final capping and gas infrastructure sooner.
Noise is another issue addressed in the application that identifies HGVs, front shovel loaders, excavators, compactors and the depositing of waste as potential noise sources. It says waste deposition is the noisiest activity carried out at the site.
The plan proposes a 5mph speed limit, restrictions on operating hours, non-intrusive broadband reversing alarms, maintenance of machinery and a requirement for deliveries not to take place outside operational hours. It also states that activities identified as causing nuisance noise can be temporarily stopped.
But buried within the noise assessment submitted as part of the application that states that a Noise Impact Assessment has been completed, parts of the published Noise Management Plan still contain unfinished placeholders.
One section states that the assessment concluded that noise levels at neighbouring properties would be acceptable with mitigation, but then leaves the actual conclusion as "{Conclusion of NIA}".
Elsewhere, the document refers to "{Contextual Point 1}", "{Contextual Point 2}" and "{Contextual Point 3}", while another section lists "{Dominant noise source at receptor 2}" rather than completing the report text.
The Environment Agency's published consultation documents show that the application originally contained a number of missing appendices.
In correspondence dated January 9, 2026, the applicant's consultant responded to an Environment Agency request for further information, confirming that the missing Market Assessment, Fire Prevention Plan, Dust Management Plan, Noise Management Plan and Pest Management Plan had subsequently been prepared and supplied.
The same correspondence reveals that the Environment Agency had also raised concerns about the technical competence certificates originally submitted for the site.
The regulator told the applicant that the qualifications provided were relevant to managing non-hazardous landfill but that Flusco also has a permitted hazardous-waste activity.
The application also proposes adding two waste streams to the permit: animal faeces not subject to special requirements and off-specification compost.
Seletia's argument is that allowing much greater annual throughput will actually help deal with the site's problems by enabling it to finish the landfill and restore it sooner.
The company's market assessment says the existing operation has been held back by incomplete capping and infrastructure and argues that increasing the rate of waste input would allow cells to be completed, gas and leachate systems installed and the site progressively capped and restored.
The company says this would reduce the length of time the site remains operational.
HAVE YOUR SAY
The Environment Agency is now consulting the public on Seletia's application, with the consultation currently open and running until September 21, 2026.
Members of the public can submit comments directly to the Environment Agency through its online consultation.
The regulator says it can consider information about environmental risks, pollution controls, local populations and sensitive sites, as well as information which corrects or challenges claims made in the application.
This can include evidence or concerns relating to issues such as odour, noise, dust, pests, pollution and the potential environmental impact of the proposed operation.
The consultation is specifically about the environmental permit variation, rather than whether the landfill should exist as a matter of planning policy.
The Environment Agency's consultation page, including the full application and supporting documents, can be found here:
Environment Agency consultation – Seletia Flusco landfill permit application
For a landfill which has spent the past year at the centre of a major environmental enforcement battle, the prospect of potentially moving from a 66,000-tonne annual limit to 500,000 tonnes is likely to make the consultation one of the most closely watched environmental decisions in the Penrith area.
The Environment Agency will consider the representations received before deciding whether the permit variation should be granted, refused or granted with conditions.
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