Is this an end to tyre mountain?

The end of the infamous Norfolk tyre mountain could finally be in sight with work underway towards a planning application for the creation of a major �1 million re-cycling plant.

An estimated 600,000 car and lorry tyres on the Tattersett Business Park, near Fakenham, have been an eyesore on the area's landscape for more than a decade and has been described as an environmental 'ticking timebomb'.

But now businessman Roger Gawn, who acquired the business park earlier this year, says he is moving closer to seeing the establishment of a re-cycling plant on the site.

Not only would the project deal with processing and re-cycling the existing tyres on the site but it would also deal with the growing problem of the region's unwanted tyres.

Mr Gawn said there have already been meetings between the various interested parties, including North Norfolk District Council and the Environment Agency.

'I am pressing ahead with my solution to this major problem which is to establish a properly-run eco-friendly tyre re-cycling operation. Not only would such an operation deal with the existing problem but would also provide a way of dealing with the re-cycling of tyres in the region,' he said.

Mr Gawn has had talks with people involved in tyre re-cycling and to identify commercial uses for the tyres once they have been shredded into a product known as crumb.

He added: 'We are talking of a one million pound operation, but it will provide a once-and-for-all solution to the problem and provide new jobs. It would also provide knock-on jobs for people involved in the commercial manufacturing at the other end of the process.

'I intend to press ahead with this scheme.'