News110906

Multi-million pound expansion plans at Eastcroft incinerator look set to be refused, the Evening Post can reveal.

City council officers are recommending that planning permission for the proposed £50m scheme is turned down.

Owner WRG wants to almost double the size of the plant to burn 250,000 tonnes of waste a year by 2010, instead of 150,000.

Waste would be trucked in to the London Road incinerator from up to 35 miles away. City councillors will decide next week whether to accept the officers' advice.

A report to a councillors' meeting on September 20 will say the plan should be rejected not on environmental grounds, but on planning grounds.

It says expansion would have an adverse effect on future development east of the city.

Jon Beresford, a spokeman for lobby group Nottingham Against Incineration and Landfill said it was a "fantastic" day for the campaigners.

He felt public protest had swayed council opinion.

"We will still be outside the Council House on the day of the committee meeting asking councillors to support the planners' recommendation," added Mr Beresford.

A WRG spokeswoman said extension of the incinerator was supported by Nottingham City and Notts County Council's joint waste master plan.

"We believe the extension is vital to the continuing fight to reduce the reliance on landfill," she added.