IT IS the end of an era for a Hampshire landfill site as it is transformed from an eyesore into an area of natural beauty.

After eight years and more than one million tonnes of waste, the Fair Oak landfill site has taken it’s last delivery, ready to be restored into natural land.

The 35-acre site operated by SITA UK, next to the East Horton Golf Club, will be covered with a metre of soil, followed by a plastic membrane and then a further metre of earth, before grass seeds are sown in the spring.

Up to 200,000 tonnes of material, including building and commercial waste, has been dumped at the site every year, coming from as far as London.

Three of the six workers from Fair Oak will be redeployed to other SITA sites in Hampshire, while the remaining three will stay-on while the restoration work continues. It is hoped that the site will be fully restored by June.

Matt Hughes, site manager, said: “This closure is an end of an era. I’ve been here since day one and I regard it as my baby.

“It’s unusual in this business to manage on site from start to finish and I know Fair Oak like the back of my hand.

It will be sad to see it end.”

Mike Garfield, SITA UK’s, area manager, added: “The work now under way will restore the site to a very attractive area of natural land.”