Incinerator plan meets opposition

The incinerator would burn 180,000 tonnes of waste a year

Plans for a major incinerator in Nottinghamshire have been met with dismay by campaigners and residents.

The county council has confirmed it is proposing to build the unit on the site of the former Rufford Colliery near the village of Rainworth.

Officials said there would be consultation with residents at all stages of the scheme.

But environmentalists said incineration was a bad solution and a local councillor said there were "no pros".

A spokesman for the company behind the proposals, Veolia Environmental Services, dismissed pollution fears, saying the facility was based on proven technology.

Melvin Trigg, from the county council's environment department, said: "There will be the establishment of a consultation group with the local community, with schools, churches, the local district council.

I have been trying to look at the pro and cons and have found not one pro Allen Tift, Newark district councillor

"This will set up a dialogue so we can be honest with these people and explain to them what is involved and get their views."

The incinerator would burn 180,000 tonnes of waste per year.

Newark and Sherwood District councillor Allen Tift said people were against the idea.

"The feeling is very much 'anti'. I have been trying to look at the pro and cons and have found not one pro.

"There are too many unknown quantities. We really don't know about the effects on health."

Pressure group Mansfield Against Incineration (MAIN), which campaigned against the plan when Forest Town seemed the likely site, is still opposed to the scheme.

The group's secretary, Schlomo Dowen, said: "We think our discarded material should be regarded as a valuable resource and handled accordingly.

"All over the world people are finding ways of reducing and reusing this kind of waste but as soon as you introduce an incinerator, that needs to be fed."