Waste plan is given the go-ahead again

Controversial plans for a huge incinerator which will be built at Four Ashes near Cannock has been passed for a second time by planning bosses.

The plans for the 300,000-ton rubbish burner, which is costing £122 million, had been passed in November last year but members of Staffordshire County Council's planning committee were asked to decide on the plans once more to avoid a legal challenge. Councillors yesterday decided to vote in favour of the incinerator once again.

The county council has been threatened with two judicial reviews over how it has handled the plans, with critics saying the plan could land taxpayers with a hefty bill.

Speaking at the meeting, Edward Cooke, from Penkridge based Compliance UK, said the amount of waste in Staffordshire is falling and that signing up to a 25-year deal to provide rubbish to the incinerator, which will be run by a private company, will be costly for taxpayers if the council misses its quota.

But waste bosses at the county council say the contract will have flexibility to allow commercial waste to be burned in the incinerator to meet any gaps.

He said: "There will not be the demand for this kind of waste. Millions of pounds per year will be wasted because there will not be the demand. Recycling is on a steep upward curve and is set to continue in the future."

As well as 140,000 tons of waste being sent to the incinerator from Staffordshire there will be 60,000 tons from Walsall, 50,000 tons from Sandwell and 40,000 from Warwickshire.

There will be plans made to alter the junction at Vicarage Road to cope with the traffic but the exact detail of the road is yet to be decided.

Councillors had to consider whether or not their decision to grant approval for the scheme would have been different in light of the claims made by the objectors.

Councillor Rex Roberts said the committee should approve the plans.

He said: "I think you can justify a need for a waste facility site of this kind."