A Foston waste firm has been told to clean up its act after failing to comply with planning rules for six years.

The transgression by BM Tech's Foston Recycling Centre, which has now been told its operation needs to be cleaned up, is one of 11 cases where companies have not complied with regulations.

Now Derbyshire County Council is planning to get tough with offenders.

County councillors said that they risk developers taking them for granted if stronger measures are not brought in, when they were speaking at a planning committee meeting on Monday, April 9.

When planning applications are approved, council officers and councillors agree on conditions for the site in question.

This could include conditions for a quarry not to mine during the night or for landfill sites to restrict the spread of nasty smells.

The "non-compliance" with two conditions at BM Tech's Foston Recycling Centre, in Uttoxeter Road, Foston, stretches back to March 2012, when breach notices were issued, the meeting was told.

The Foston premises which has been ordered to clean up its site

These notices demand that the site owner stops importing and depositing waste outside the building and also stops using the processing plant outside the building.

BM Tech owner Ben Morley said: "We have spent a lot of time developing equipment to recycle a very particular sort of waste.

"It has taken a long time to develop this process and as a result we should now be able to get back on top of this issue soon."

There are currently 11 enforcement actions being undertaken by the county council.

Draft plans to step-up the authority's position on enforcement action are now being drawn up by council officers to bring an end to incidents such as this dragging on for more than half a decade.

Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Paul Smith (Labour, Alfreton and Somercotes), said: "Members of the public who are affected by some of these schemes expect us to look into them and get them sorted quickly, and they'll see that nothing has changed in some places for several years and say 'you are not doing anything'.

"There comes a point when there is time to adopt a big stick approach when necessary, otherwise these developers will know that we are starting off from a weak position.

"Lots of these companies bring sustainability and economic benefits to Derbyshire, but if you live in a community affected by these situations, you would be worried.

"It's good that we set these conditions, but we need to make sure that people stick to them."

Meanwhile, committee chairman Councillor Martyn Ford (Conservative, Etwall and Repton), said: "We need to get a bit of a handle on this, it really is getting out of hand."

Council officers stated that enforcement action legislation is specified in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) but said that a new plan is being put together in response to failures to comply stretching on for a long time.

Once it is ready, the report will come back to councillors to assess.