A DECISION on a contraversial £120 million incinerator planned for Hartlebury will be made next month and an action group is gearing up to take a coach party of demonstrators to the meeting.

Worcestershire County Council’s planning and regulatory committee will consider the application, for an energy-from-waste plant on Hartlebury Trading Estate, at its meeting on Tuesday, March 1.

Worcestershire Residents Against Incineration and Landfill (WAIL) met on Tuesday to formalise plans to take objectors to the meeting at County Hall, in two minibuses borrowed from Hartlebury CE Primary School.

The application from Mercia Waste Management was made to Worcestershire County Planning Authority in May 2010 and has been subject to two public consultations.

March’s meeting could result in one of a few possible outcomes. The planning committee could reject the application and Mercia Waste Management could appeal.

The incinerator could be approved, leaving WAIL and other objectors with no right of appeal. The plans would then be submitted to the Secretary of State who would either give them the go ahead or call for a public enquiry.

A public enquiry would be chaired by a planning inspector, who would present the Secretary of State with a summary of evidence and a recommendation on whether to reject the application or accept it, with or without conditions.

If a decision to accept the application is made, then a claim for a judicial review could be lodged within three months if objectors believe the planning process to be flawed.

Comments can be submitted at worcestershire.gov.uk, by emailing Kirsten Berry at ERM.UKHartleburyEFW@erm.com or by writing to Diane Tilley, Director of Planning, Economy and Performance, Worcestershire County Council, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP