WELWYN Hatfield Council has agreed to formally object to the planning application for the Hatfield incinerator, when it is presented this summer.

Members of the council’s planning control committee accepted officers’ recommedations to oppose the hated project during a meeting on Thursday.

The authority will object to Veolia Environmental Services’ plans to build a 380,000 tonne waste burner at the New Barnfield site on the following grounds:

? The size of the facility

? Green Belt policy

? Impact on landscape

? Impact of heavy goods vehicles

? Impact on Southfield School, in Travellers Lane

Councillors were also concerned that the application is premature, with a Government report into Hertfordshire’s County Council’s waste core strategy not yet published, although it is expected this month.

Labour councillor Mike Larkins, who sits on planning control committee, said: “It was unanimous. Welwyn Hatfield Council does not want the incinerator.

“Sticking an incinerator next to a school is not on, in my opinion. Building an incinerator in the centre of town is also not on.”