Controversial plans to operate a recycling plant in Bradford round the clock have angered residents who say the site already poses risks to children at a nearby nursery.

Bosses at Associated Waste Management’s (AWM) recycling centre in Canal Road want to extend the business by building a new rubbish sorting station and changing its operating hours to allow it to run 24 hours a day during the week.

Senior planning officers at Bradford Council say the expansion is needed to recycle industrial waste from across the district.

But residents of Poplar Crescent, Windhill, Shipley, which is opposite the site, want to see it closed down.

They say the AWM site creates a huge amount of dust, putrid smells, flies and noise pollution from heavy lorries operating a few hundred metres away from BonBons day nursery, in Midland Road, and Frizinghall Primary School, in Salisbury Road.

Antony Partridge, of Poplar Crescent, said: “I am appaled that this site is already permitted to operate near a primary school and a stone’s throw from a children’s day nursery, which almost backs on to the site, where toddlers and under fives have to play.

“Dust and dirt is easily carried such a short distance, even in a light breeze. This is obviously of great concern for myself as a parent. Surely we should not be expanding this operation, it should be re-located altogether at a non-residential site.”

Neighbours Lance and Wendy Murgatroyd have also objected to the planning application, which will be decided by the Shipley Area Planning Panel on Thursday.

In a letter to the panel, they wrote: “The residents do not want 24/7 operational hours. Its present location needs closing down altogether.”

AWM, which took over the site in 2005, has a waste sorting station with external conveyor belts and sorting areas, which were built last year without planning permission.

The company is applying to keep the equipment and build a seven-metre tall waste ‘picking station’.

The application also includes soundproofing, lighting and extended operating hours.

A report to the planning panel reads: “The proposal will result in an increase in the capacity of the site to recover recyclable materials from the commercial, industrial, construction and demolition streams generated within the district.

“The proposal should not give rise to unacceptable adverse impacts on people and the environment in terms of visual amenity, odour, dust, air, ground or water pollution or other nuisance.”

AWM was not available for comment.