FARMERS have welcomed the announcement by the Environment Agency they can usefully use waste planings - old material from road buildings and construction projects - without being charged a heft fee or applying for a waste disposal licence.

"Farmers and landowners have traditionally recycled road planings to surface farm tracks," said Frances Beatty, director for the CLA in the West Midlands. "This has always been seen as a sustainable way of reusing old material profitably and is seen as effective recycling."