Bosses at environmental firm Veolia today said the decision to throw out plans for a £60 million incinerator in Shrewsbury had left officials with a huge headache in dealing with the county’s waste.

Veolia managing director Donald Macphail said the incinerator, along with increased recycling, would have reduced the amount of household waste going to landfill from 65 per cent in 2005 to just five per cent in 2015.

He said it would have saved the county hundreds of thousands of pounds, with the standard rate of landfill tax expected to increase by £8 per tonne each year from next April until at least 2014.

Members of Shropshire Council’s planning committee unanimously voted to refuse the application for the incinerator at Battlefield at a meeting on Wednesday night.

The decision was made because of concerns over health risks, the suitability of the site and the visual impact of the development.

Mr Macphail said the decision had been a “huge disappointment” for Veolia, which signed a multi-million pound 27 year contract with the council in 2007 to deal with the county’s waste.

He said the company was considering appealing against the decision to the Secretary of State.

An Environmental Permit to operate the facility was granted by the Environment Agency in June.

He said: “Shropshire needs a way of diverting waste from landfill and this facility is a crucial part of the strategy to recover value from waste through the production of energy.

“Waste is an incredibly valuable resource and energy from waste facilities has a critical role to play, together with recycling and composting, as part of an integrated waste management strategy.”

Councillor Alan Mosley, who told members of the committee on Wednesday that he “regretted” being among those to approve the contract with the incinerator provision three years ago, today said there were other ways to deal with the problem.

He said: “Obviously there are alternative methods to incineration for dealing with residual waste that will need to be examined by officers along with Veolia.

“The main option in that of course is to increase recycling rates.”

By Russell Roberts