WELWYN Hatfield MP Grant Shapps has welcomed the news that an incinerator could be built at a site other than New Barnfield.

The housing and local government housing minister spoke out after the county council revealed that one of the companies tendering for its waste management contract would prefer to build the ‘Energy from Waste’ facility in Harper Lane.

“Every Hatfield resident will be relieved to hear the news that New Barnfield is no longer the only site under active consideration for an incinerator,” Mr Shapps said.

“As I met with those bidding to build the plant, I stressed that this would be a very poor choice of location.

“The maths is clear – at full scale New Barnfield would see a lorry turning up or leaving once every three minutes.

“From the point of view of residents along Southway this would be completely unacceptable.

“We can argue about the merits of Energy from Waste or other technologies until the cows come home, but it’s perfectly clear that building an incinerator in a location where the lorries would come straight past homes in order to access the plant would be completely unacceptable.”

Mr Shapps added: “I’ll now be arranging to meet and lobby the last firm (namely Veolia Environmental Services) who have their eyes on building an incinerator at New Barnfield to try to convince them that they need to think again.”