CAMPAIGNERS who led a successful crusade against plans for a giant £40 million waste incinerator in Kidderminster fear a burner could be back on the agenda for Worcestershire.

The Stourport Road facility was finally defeated at a public inquiry last year when a planning inspector threw out Severn Waste Services' appeal.

But now Worcestershire County Council has started a public consultation process in a bid to find the "Best Practicable Environmental Option" for future waste management.

The lack of a full BPEO was one of the reasons cited by inspector Ken Smith when he threw out an appeal by the waste firm against planners' refusal to grant permission for the burner, along with, unusually, public fears over potential health effects - not a conventional planning consideration.

But Stop Kidderminster Incinerator member Brian Jordan said the document issued to people across Worcestershire and Herefordshire "does not constitute public consultation".

He said people have been given "seven pre-determined options with little or no detail".

"There is no documentation supporting their claims on emissions, pollution, transport distance, and financial costs.

"Instead we are presented with a simplistic decision table covered in spots pointing us towards their obvious preferred option, which although it contains the largest element of thermal treatment - let's be honest, it's most likely incineration - they also expect us to take it on trust that it is also one of the cheapest and least polluting.

"In fact it almost seems too good to be true."

He urged people to write to the county council and "not be channelled into picking an option that may not be much different to the one thrown out at the public inquiry".

Councillor Alywn Davies, who is responsible for environment and sustainability, said the two counties produce 400,000 tonnes of household waste a year and that the BPEO would set the waste management agenda for years to come.

Some of the options in the booklet refer to technology still in development, he added.

A council spokesman said thermal treatment did not necessarily mean incineration and urged more people to respond with their opinions.

He was "baffled" at the criticism: "It's not as though we're trying to sweep this under the carpet."