A PETITION signed by thousands of people opposed to an incinerator at Hatfield’s New Barnfield site will be handed to council chiefs this month.

Meanwhile, a pressure group, the Watling Incinerator Group (WING), has been set up to campaign against a huge energy-from-waste plant at the only other potential site – Harper Lane, near Radlett.

The representations to save New Barnfield will be presented at the full county council meeting, in Hertford, on Friday, February 18.

The petition was organised by Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps.

It will be presented by Alan Franey, deputy leader of Welwyn Hatfield Council, with representatives of campaign group Hatfield Against Incineration (HAI) also present.

The petition echoes the Welwyn Hatfield Times’s InferNO! campaign and has cross-party support as well as 2,500 signatures.

Campaigners against an incinerator at New Barnfield say the site is unsuitable for waste treatment for a variety of reasons including traffic, pollution, potential harm to special needs pupils at Southfield School, and damage to a nature reserve where protected newts and rare birds dwell.

A spokesman for HAI said: “These problems are in addition to the danger from the emissions from an incinerator, which are likely to be harmful to health.

“An incinerator would also emit carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming.”