CALLS are being made for Worcestershire’s leaders to dump controversial plans for an incinerator – after a neighbouring county rejected similar proposals.

Gloucestershire’s council chiefs have thrown out plans for a £500 million rubbish-burning site following major campaigns from the public to have it scrapped.

The shock decision came despite bosses in Gloucestershire signing a 25-year contract with Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) to build the unit.

Worcestershire County Council is now pressing ahead with an incinerator in Hartlebury, which could be open in 2016, but campaigners say it is not too late to scrap it.

Matthew Jenkins, the county’s Green Party spokesman, said: “Gloucestershire’s scheme is very similar and if they said ‘no’, we can do so here too. “It is not too late to look at alternatives. There are still concerns over the environmental and monetary aspects of this.

“It will probably be costly to get out of the contract Worcestershire is in, but I think an effort should be made to do so.

“It would be a radical change to step away, but it can be done.

“We need a new approach, which includes dealing with food waste and places the emphasis on recycling.”

Gloucestershire rejected its own incinerator bid, off junction 12 of the M5, near Gloucester, after 4,000 letters of objection. The council’s planning committee criticised the cost, size, location and impact on the environment and since then UBB has confirmed it is considering an appeal.

However, in Worcestershire, County Hall’s Conservative leadership remains fully behind the Hartlebury plant, which would be run by EnviRecover on an industrial estate. It would use the site to generate 15.5 megawatts of renewable energy – enough for 20,000 homes – by burning up to 200,000 tonnes of rubbish.

Campaigners say they fear the cost could top £1 billion because it is being funded under a private finance initiative (PFI), but County Hall has refuted that figure, and still estimates it to be £120 million.

Other incinerators around the UK have cost anywhere from £500 million to one billion during the lifetime of a typical 25-year PFI deal.

A council spokesman said: “The situation in Worcestershire is clearly different.

“The contractor’s proposal was recommended for approval by Worcestershire County Council’s planning committee and subsequently approved by the Secretary of State.”