A busy recycling centre is set to expand with a new shop.

Norfolk County Council wants to build a store selling recycled items at Heacham tip.

It has also applied to accept trade waste at the Chalk

Pit Lane site, off the main A149 near the Lavender Hill junction, to allow 'flexibility for the future'.

In a statement accompanying its planning application, the council says the centre received around 51,000 visitors during 2017 and has an average annual throughput of 2,090 tonnes of waste.

Of the recycling shop, it adds: 'The shop would become part of a network of reuse shops at recycling centres in Norfolk in a

continued effort to drive waste up the hierarchy through promotion of reuse.

'The re-use shop would not increase material throughput on the site but would increase the amount of waste diverted from disposal or recycling. The presence of a reuse shop on site helps prioritise reuse over recycling and disposal in line with the waste hierarchy.'

The statement says the council may wish to allow traders with 'small quantities of waste' to dispose of it at more household waste recycling centres in the future.

'The scheme would support local business in Norfolk providing a disposal point for small volumes of waste,' it says.

'It is estimated that volumes of trade waste through the site would be low, as evidenced by the trials on other sites, and can be accommodated within the existing tonnage throughput limit specified by the current environmental permit of 5,000 tonnes per annum.' The council says an average of 195 people visit the site each day. It estimates accepting trade waste would generate an extra two visits a day.

Traders would be encouraged to visit the site on weekdays to avoid the busier weekend periods and would need to have a licence to carry waste and the necessary paperwork.

The planning application, which will be decided by the county's planning committee also includes proposals to sell Christmas trees at the site during the festive season.