PURBECK councillors have backed plans to decontaminate Winfrith's nuclear licensed site and turn all the land back into heathland.

Members of the district council voted to support the option put forward by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which could see the area designated as a site of scientific interest in the future.

Nearly two thirds of local residents surveyed backed the move to restore the site to its pre-1957 condition during a public consultation carried out by the council.

Councillors had been offered two options by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which is responsible for site decommissioning on all UK nuclear licensed facilities.

The favoured choice would see the site radiologically cleaned and decontaminated, and then made available for unrestricted use.

More than 24 hectares of the site controlled by the UK Atomic Energy Authority would be restored to heathland, which could also later be designated as a site of scientific interest.

Around 60 hectares of the 88-hectare site already has SSSI status.

A second option would have involved radiologically cleansing the northern part of the site occupied by hardstandings and buildings, but keeping it as potential employment land.

Members of the council agreed to support the first option, as there are already a number of employment land allocations available east of the nuclear licensed site.

But they also put forward certain conditions, including removing a rail siding, retaining on-site storage of intermediate waste and considering the cost implications of restoring a wetland area. A response will now be sent to the Nuclear Decommission Authority outlining the authority's preferred option.

Mark Sturgess, head of community planning and policy, said: "The council has a duty to promote the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of the district and that, coupled with the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy and the current planning framework, formed the basis for the decision taken by council.

"We trust that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will carefully consider our response and find a way forward for the site in harmony with local needs."

The UKAEA site at Winfrith first opened in 1958 and was used for nuclear reactor research and development until the 1990s, but the last of its reactors was shut down in 1995.