THE company behind a £300million state-of-the-art energy recovery centre have written to nearby residents promising its detailed planning application will reflect their concerns.

The new plant to turn millions of black bin bags and their contents into steam and electricity would replace its waste transfer station in Lower Eccleshill Road, Darwen.

SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK have revealed its detailed scheme will be submitted to planners by the end of the month.

The firm held two public drop-in sessions in Darwen and Blackburn last month as part of a consultation running from January 28 to March 8 and provided and collected ‘Have Your Say’ forms to residents of Somerset Avenue and other nearby streets.

SUEZ’s corporate affairs manager Carolyn Fitzgerald has told them: “We will submit a planning application for the proposed energy recovery centre to Blackburn with Darwen Council at the end of March and it will reflect the response received during the public consultation.

“It will create around 50 skilled and semi-skilled job opportunities and will ensure Lancashire’s waste is diverted from landfill and put to good use as a valuable resource.”

The proposed centre would process 500,000 tonnes of waste each year which would otherwise go to landfill at SUEZ’s Whinney Hill tip in Altham. If approved by councillors in July, the new development should be on stream by 2024.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Roy Davies and Conservative Cllr Julie Slater have expressed fears over the impact on on nearby roads of heavy lorries going to and from the new plant.