A CAMPAIGNING parent is being backed by politicians from each of the two main parties in her fight against putting a waste incinerator next to her son s school. Tory MP Grant Shapps and Labour borough councillor Kieran Thorpe have both offered their supp

A CAMPAIGNING parent is being backed by politicians from each of the two main parties in her fight against putting a waste incinerator next to her son's school.

Tory MP Grant Shapps and Labour borough councillor Kieran Thorpe have both offered their support to Dawn Hunt, who vehemently objects to the county council's plans for an incinerator at New Barnfield in Hatfield.

The site, in Travellers Lane, is right next door to Southfield, the special needs school which her six-year-old son Jack attends.

Dawn is hoping to add a further 500 signatures to the 100 that have already signed her petition against the project, and can now count Mr Shapps and cllr Thorpe among her supporters.

Mr Shapps described Dawn as a "powerhouse" and said she was "leading the way" in the campaign to save Southfield.

Cllr Thorpe said: "I don't think there is any doubt that an incinerator would harm this school."

Meanwhile, hopes that a new incinerator at a dump in Ware would derail the New Barnfield plan have been quashed.

Waste management company Biffa said the facility would only deal with commercial and non-hazardous waste, so would not affect the Hatfield site.

For more on this story, see this week's Welwyn & Hatfield Times, out today.