AT LEAST 35 new waste plants are to be built across Lancashire in the next 10 years as the county runs out of landfill space.

And the Lancashire Telegraph has obtained the draft list of 66 potential sites.

At least two recycling plants will be built in each district to recycle, process and compost the county’s growing mountain of trade waste.

And the list - which includes 23 locations in East Lancashire - also earmarks six possible sites in Blackburn and Darwen for a highly controversial rubbish-burning incinerator.

A final shortlist will be produced for consultation in the Autumn and the list of potential sites will then be produced. It is expected most of the projects will go to a public inquiry.

County councillor Matthew Tomlinson, cabinet member for sustainable development, said the recycling plants were needed as the era of piles of waste being buried underground had to come to an end.

He said: “We are desperately running out of landfill, we can’t just dig another hole. For a start, there’s nowhere to dig one, and secondly council taxpayers have to pay for the landfill tax.”

The current list has been produced after councils and landowners submitted sites for consideration. A series of public consultation events are already underway, but they are not yet debating specific locations.

Coun Tomlinson admitted: “People will say ‘we believe in this, but we want it somewhere else’.

“There will be some sites that are seen as controversial locally, but these will have to be dealt with via the planning process.

“At the moment we are looking at factors like accessibility and proximity to residential areas.

“There’s always a balance to be struck. If you’re building a waste treatment plant you don’t want it in someone’s back garden but on the other hand you don’t want the rubbish to be driven miles and miles to be treated.

“You also need to tell people if they are going to buy a house in one of the areas. They will need to know.”

Industry and commerce accounts for 40 per cent of the total waste produced in Lancashire.

County Hall is responsible for disposing of domestic waste, which is being dealt with by high-tech treatment facilities being built at Leyland,Thornton and Huncoat under a £2bn Private Finance Initiative contract.

But councils also have to avoid EU landfill taxes, which are expected to increase eight-fold in the next decade, on trade waste if they are to prevent council tax bills from soaring.

According to council bosses, facilities will be needed to cope with an extra 2.8million tonnes of non-domestic rubbish by 2020.

So County Hall, which is in charge of planning permission for waste facilities, has drawn up a strategy to cut the amount of waste being sent to landfill.

The strategy will earmark sites throughout Lancashire which will be given special status to allow private waste firms to develop them.

Sites being considered include Whitebirk Industrial Estate, Roman Road, Blackburn, the Metro Metals site in Burnley, Whinney Hill/Accrington Brickworks in Hydburn, Fleet Street, Nelson and Jamestone Quarry in Rossendale.

Chorley council in its plans has included Stanworth Quarry at Withnell as a possible site.

Blackburn with Darwen council has withdrawn from the PFI contract, which it said was too expensive, meaning the borough also has to find a way of getting rid of its household waste.

Sites including Roman Road and at Whitebirk have been identified as possible homes for a rubbish-burning incinerator, which would be opposed by many environmentalists.

Council bosses insist they have not yet decided on the way forward, but council leader Michael Lee admitted incineration was being looked at.

He said: “It’s possible we will go for an incinerator, but we have not yet decided. Incinerators are much better than they used to be, and the emissions are way below the legal requirement.”

But Nicola Escott, of the campaign group Action to Reduce and Recycle our Waste, claimed incinerators could damage public health.

She added: “People aren’t being made aware of these plans. It takes hours and hours to find the list of sites in all the documentation.

“Apparently incinerators are the second most unpopular facility after nuclear power stations.”

Possible East Lancashire waste sites

  • Blackburn with Darwen
    Whitebirk Industrial Estate - submitted by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
    Whitebirk Depot, Blackburn - submitted by United Utilities (part of site also falls with Hyndburn borough)
    Roman Road, Blackburn - submitted by SITA UK
    Wolstenholme Bronze, Darwen - submitted by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
    Goosehouse Lane, Darwen - submitted by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
    Davyfield Road, Blackburn - submitted by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
    Existing facilities: India Street, Darwen, Bent Hall, Darwen

  • Burnley
    Metro Metals - submitted by Metro Metals
    Existing facility: Deerplay, Burnley

  • Hyndburn
    Holme Road, Accrington - submitted by A1 Skip Hire
    Huncoat - submitted by Lancashire County Council
    Whinney Hill/Accrington Brickworks (two proposals) - submitted by Hanson
    Existing facilities: Great Harwood, Whinney Hill, Altham

  • Pendle
    Fleet Street, Nelson - submitted by Lancashire County Council

  • Rossendale
    Jamestone Quarry, Haslingden - submitted by Aggregate Industries
    Scout Moor Quarry, Edenfield - submitted by Marshalls Mono
    Fletcher Bank Quarry - submitted by Peel Environmental
    Fletcher Bank Quarry - submitted by Marshalls
    Scout Moor Quarry - submitted by Peel Environmental & Marshalls Mono
    Land at Whitworth Quarry - submitted by Woodman (Whitworth) Ltd (two proposals)
    Access Route to Whitworth Quarry - submitted by Woodman (Whitworth) Ltd
    Mayfield Chicks, Ewood Bridge - submitted by Lancashire County Council