MOST Oxfordshire MPs have called on County Hall to rethink a plan to build a £100m incinerator as the answer to the county’s waste problems.

The MPs made their concerns about burning waste known as new fears emerged Oxfordshire could end up with two incinerators because of the way Oxfordshire County Council has handled the waste issue.

Ed Vaizey, the Tory MP for Wantage, risked embarrassing the ruling Conservative group at County Hall by coming out against one of the council’s most far-reaching and costly decisions.

The county council wants to see an incinerator built either at Ardley, near Bicester, or at Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon, where the county’s waste would be burnt instead of buried in landfill sites.

More than 20,000 people have signed a petition opposing incinerators, amid claims the health implications of incinerators have not been properly investigated.

Mr Vaizey called for the council to go back to the drawing board and reconsider better technologies for dealing with waste.

Mr Vaizey said: “Given the huge opposition, I am convinced the county council could provide a non-incineration solution at the same, or lower cost, within the time frame required. They should listen to local people and ask the waste companies to come forward with other proposals.”

He urged County Hall to follow the example of councils opting for “the cleaner” Mechanical Biological Treatment.

Tony Baldry, Tory MP for Banbury, warned Oxfordshire could end up with two incinerators.

Mr Baldry believed County Hall had created potentially serious problems by inviting two waste companies, Viridor at Ardley and the Waste Recycling Group (WRG) at Sutton Courtenay, to seek planning permission, with only one to be awarded the contract to burn 300,000 tonnes of waste a year.

He believed “the losing” company – if it had also acquired planning permission – could build a plant, which would take waste from other parts of the country.

A spokesman for Viridor said the company had not considered what it would do if it failed to win the county council contract to treat Oxfordshire waste.

He said: “This is not a scenario we have considered. All our proposals have been developed with the county council contract in mind. The capacity of the facility has been modelled largely on the the number of households in Oxfordshire.

“If we did not win the contract we would need to rethink how viable it would be for us to pursue the construction of the facility. We would not rule anything out at this stage.”

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said: “I’m against incinerators and am very concerned about their environmental impact. Incineration releases a lot of CO2 and wastes energy which would be better conserved by recycling.

“I am also concerned about the hazards of incinerator ash and its disposal.”

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris said: “The county’s process should have been to identify the most environmentally sound option for dealing with waste, not the cheapest.”

The two separate incinerator planning applications are expected to be decided by County Hall in July.

An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said: “The council, in determining these applications, will need to have regard to Government policy which urges that each county is self-sufficient in providing for the treatment of its own waste.

“This would obviously have real implications with regard to the likelihood of more than one incinerator being built in Oxfordshire in terms of commercial viability.

“For any proposal to get the go-ahead it has to be acceptable in planning terms and the Environment Agency needs to be convinced that it poses no harm to the environment or human health.”

Henley MP John Howell, a former member of Oxfordshire County Council’s decision-making cabinet, backed County Hall’s waste strategy. He said: “The tender process was an open one. The assessment was a finely balanced one in terms of environment implications.”

Tory leader and Witney MP David Cameron said: “It is up to local authorities to decide the right way to meet their obligations.”