City incinerator plans scrapped

Plans for a waste incinerator at Avonmouth to serve the greater Bristol area, have been scrapped.

Four authorities - Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset - were involved in the £20m project.

Liberal Democrats on Bristol City Council made an amendment to the budget to stop funding the incinerator scheme.

Instead, money will be spent on home composting, street sweeping and a campaign to encourage recycling.

Councillor Gary Hopkins of the Liberal Democrat group said: "This is good news and means that the council should now look at alternatives to the costly incinerator.

"We want all four of the West of England authorities to be working together on this, something that hasn't been possible to date because of the controversial incinerator plans."