A Norfolk recycling plant will be expanded from four hectares to six, despite being in the open countryside.
Planners had recommended that Carl Bird Ltd's proposal to increase annual throughput at the site in Old Yarmouth Road, near North Walsham, from 75,000 to 90,000 tonnes, was refused.
They said that it would lead to the loss of two hectares of agricultural land within the open countryside.
But Norfolk County Council's planning (regulatory) committee, meeting at County Hall in Norwich today, approved the plans.
A council spokesman said: 'Members unanimously approved the application. Members' decision was on grounds that the county needs more waste management capacity and because there was already substantial development in the surrounding area and that both of these were good reasons for departing from the local plan.'
Twenty-eight letters of support were received by the council along with a 94-name petition from the applicant.
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