Hills Waste has been given permission to continue operating a recyclables management facility on the Porte Marsh Industrial Estate in Calne for three more years.

Permission for the facility, which sorts about 300 tonnes of mixed cardboard and plastic bottles each week, was due to run out on October 31.

The firm has plans to replace this temporary facility with a permanent one, for sorting cardboard and plastic, at its Lower Compton site.

However, Wiltshire Council has not yet made a decision on the Lower Compton site.

A statement from Hills Waste said: “The 2014 end date of the Porte Marsh facility no longer provides the time needed for the applicant to either move this operation into the Lower Compton facility, whilst retaining the service, or find an alternative site to maintain this service in the event of a refusal.”

Last December, Hills Waste applied for permission to load lorries outside the Porte Marsh site, rather than inside.

It argued that loading materials inside was becoming dangerous for workers, but councillors, concerned over noise, vetoed the change.

The bid to extend operations for three years got one letter of complaint from a couple in William Street, also worried about noise.

It said: “We feel that the extension of the facilities for another three years will simply prolong the existing noise and associated nuisance from what was supposed to have been a temporary facility.”