CONTROVERSIAL plans to help fund an incinerator in Hartlebury have been given the green light by Worcestershire councillors.

Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet has today agreed its part in a £165 million package to get the Hartlebury incinerator, which will be managed by Mercia Waste Management, up and running.

Worcestershire taxpayers will fork out £125 million and Herefordshire Council’s cabinet will meet this afternoon to authorise “all necessary steps” to obtain the other £40 million from the Public Works Loans Board and loan it to Mercia Waste to build the plant.

The project has been pitched as crucial to the Joint Waste Management Contract shared between the two councils.

Worcestershire County Council's cabinet report said when the Mercia Waste Management contract expired it would be handed back to the councils to run from 2023.

It added there was hope the incinerator could last until at least 2042 and by then the total cost would be a staggering £1.65 billion - but the council says “doing nothing” would likely cost £2.1bn by then.