CABINET Minister Eric Pickles should decide whether a controversial waste recycling plant on green belt land should be built, an MP has said.

Ramsbottom and Bury MP David Nuttall has written to the local government secretary urging him to intervene as the scheme raises major questions needing to be clarified at the highest level.

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The proposed anaerobic digestion plant by Peel Environmental and Tamar Energy for Fletcher Bank Quarry outside the town caused a storm of protest.

In March, Bury council refused the planning application and the applicants launched an appeal against the decision.

Now Mr Nuttall believes Mr Pickles should recover the application, taking over the normal process where a planning inspector makes a decision after a public inquiry which minsters then rubber stamp.

Mr Nuttall, who has been working with local councillor Ian Bevan and the action group RAWS – Ramsbottom Against the Waste Site – believes the application raises questions of national significance.

These centre on new planning guidance issued by Mr Pickles telling companies seeking to build such facilities that they should first look for suitable sites at brownfield locations rather than on green belt land.

Mr Nuttall tells Mr Pickles: “I consider that this guidance needs clarification in respect of this planning appeal.

“The applicants state that the locational needs and wider economic benefits the site could bring sufficient justification for building waste/energy facilities on this land.

“As a result recovery of this planning appeal is crucial for issuing and clarifying guidance on respect of other similar future planning applications.”

Mr Nuttall said “This move will not stop the public inquiry going ahead, and I know many residents will wish to speak against the application.

“Given the seriousness of the implications, I am of the opinion that it warrants a decision being made by the Secretary of State himself.

The plant, which would be based next to the Marshalls plant in Fletcher Bank Quarry, would convert food by-products into electricity, to provide the firm’s energy needs.

RAWS claim the plant would create bad smells, extra traffic and noise.

Rossendale and Darwen MP Jake Berry has expressed concern about the plant’s impact on the residents of nearby Edenfield.

A Bury Council spokesman said: “The inquiry is independent of the council and is a matter for the secretary of state to determine how to proceed.”

Peel Environmental said they had no comment.