Waste plant proposal rejected by Vale council

The Vale of White Horse District Council has unanimously rejected plans for a waste treatment plant near Sutton Courtenay.

The proposed plant would process 220,000 tonnes of waste collected in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and London.

But the council said it was too large, conflicted with the Vale's local plan and was in an area of open countryside.

The objections now go to Oxfordshire County Council which deals with waste disposal planning decisions.

Alan Bulpin from the Waste Recycling Group Ltd which is behind the application said: "I do accept that there were perhaps one or two areas that we could have provided additional information on.

"That will be provided in the next round of information submitted to Oxfordshire."

A county council spokesman said the earliest its planning committee would assess the application would be March 2011.

Callum MacKenzie, from the Sutton Courtenay Against The Incinerator campaign group, said: "I personally think that the county council will throw it out as the Vale has.

"The county council has no interest in this type of application."

Material reward

If the county does reject the plan the Waste Recycling Group Ltd could then appeal. An appeal could lead to public inquiry.

This application comes a month after a waste incinerator in north Oxfordshire was approved by councillors despite protests from residents.

The Waste Recycling Group Ltd had originally made a bid to build a similar incinerator near Sutton Courtenay but it withdrew its application in July.

At the time it held a public consultation about the plans to develop this alternative facility to produce about 110,000 tonnes of dried waste a year as a coal substitute.