HARTLEBURY residents look set to reject a waste firm's offer to discuss their fears over potentially harmful waste being dumped in a village quarry.

HALT - Hartlebury Against Landfill Toxins - has hired environmental consultant Alan Watson to represent the group's case against Biffa being given a licence to dispose of "special waste" in the Whitlenge Lane quarry.

The move comes despite an offer from Biffa's environment and technical manager David Savory to meet the group to talk through its reservations.

Villagers fear materials such as arsenic and cyanide could be dumped in the quarry if Biffa is awarded the licence by the planning inspectorate at a special hearing in July.

The residents' group was formed at a meeting two weeks ago to campaign against waste being dumped which they fear could potentially lead to birth defects and respiratory diseases.

The hearing is planned for Stourton's Stewponey, near where a group was set up in response to similar plans for a quarry two years ago. It will be held on July 24.

HALT co-ordinator Mark Massey said: "Alan Watson is preparing the case. It is basically for the experts to work out - I'm not qualified to talk to Biffa about technical details."

He said Mr Watson planned to emphasise the possible impact on the environment and human health, and particularly fears that an underground aquifer, which supplies water to Kidderminster and Droitwich, could be contaminated if harmful waste was dumped.

Worcestershire County Council's planning and regulatory committee was yesterday due to approve a deferment in filling the quarry until September 2002, which means the work is due to be complete in 2010.

Mr Savory said: "The waste materials we are allowed to put in are severely restricted - there is specific legislation.

"The application has been in for quite some time so we were surprised by the reaction when this group was set up recently.

"We have been speaking to the parish council for some time and we are proposing a further meeting. We need to sit down face to face."

But Mr Massey said: "The hearing is going to be the place to work everything out."