VIllagers have two weeks to have a say on what they think of plans to build a waste incinerator near their homes.

Oxfordshire County Council wants an incinerator capable of burning at least 300,000 tonnes of waste each year.

And Spanish-owned Waste Recycling Group (WRG), which operates the landfill site in Sutton Courtenay, is on the shortlist of just two companies.

The other is Viridor, which runs the other major landfill site in Oxfordshire at Ardley, near Bicester.

Over the weekend, public exhibitions were held in Sutton Courtenay, Didcot and at the WRG's offices in Appleford, to gauge public opinion over proposals for the £100m waste incinerator.

Residents were handed questionnaires and have until Friday, May 16, to return them.

Paul Green, WRG's senior estates manager, said 150 people attended the exhibitions and so far the company had received 50 completed questionnaires.

He said: "There were some concerns about traffic and other concerns that we will now take on board as the application processes, but generally it was very well received."

Mr Green said that the main points raised were public access to the site and a plea for financial contributions to be used locally.

He believed an application would be submitted in June and, if given the go ahead, construction could begin in spring 2009.

Reactions have been mixed. Pensioner Bill Pettis, of Main Road, Appleford, said: "Myself and my wife are not very stoked on the idea - there will be a smoke smell."

Neighbour Alf Green, 82, said: "The would have to start watching the bridge over Appleford railway as it could start to collapse with the lorries coming through from Sutton Courtenay.

"The heavy traffic already causes problems here."

But Stephen Noys, 58, of Harwell Road, said: "It doesn't look too bad and somebody has to have it, after all. I am fairly happy with it.

"I do not think we have too much to complain about."

Didcot resident Ruth Garnett, 38, of Calder Way, added: "Traffic may increase with taking stuff to the incinerator, but sometimes these things just have to be put where they have to go."

James Charman, chairman of Didcot Residents' Association, said that his only concern was the extra pollution it could cause. Gervase Duffield, who represents Appleford on the Vale of White Horse District Council and is a member of the parish council, said he believed a second incinerator would also be needed in Oxfordshire, and was concerned about the potential adverse impact.

He said: "There are things that come out of incinerators, not very nice things if you live downwind of it.

"This thing is going to operate 24 hours a day, which is quite different to the previous landfill.

"It has always been Monday to Friday and a little bit of Saturday, but this means that anybody who lives nearby will have huge rubbish vehicles travelling along all the time, including at the weekends."