A MAJOR new waste plant could be built in Oxfordshire to take hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste every year from London.

The Waste Recycling Group (WRG) is to submit plans for a £20m mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant on a landfill site between Abingdon and Didcot to Oxfordshire County Council next month.

The company was last year unsuccessful in a bid to build an £100m incinerator at the site in Sutton Courtenay, with County Hall eventually selecting Ardley as its favoured option — although this bid was itself subsequently turned down for planning permission, against the advice of officers. Viridor has appealed against this decision.

But Oxfordshire is now facing the possibility of having two waste plants — one in the north that would burn Oxfordshire’s waste and one in the south dealing with waste arriving each day from London.

WRG’s plans to build an incinerator in Sutton Courtenay sparked a strong local campaign of opposition, which highlighted concerns about pollution, health risks and traffic.

But the company said it now wants to build a plant using an altogether different technology, known as MBT, an alternative to burning in which waste goes through various biological and mechanical processes.

The company said the new plant could be available for Oxfordshire waste if Viridor were unsuccessful in its bid to build an incinerator at Ardley,.

But WRG made it clear that if Viridor won approval for its energy-from-waste plant, the proposed plant at Sutton Courtenay could treat West London’s waste, some of which presently arrives in Oxfordshire by train to go into landfill at Sutton Courtenay.

The new MBT plant could also treat commercial and industrial waste.

Alan Bulpin, planning and estates manager for WRG, said: “We are applying for this plant now because we believe it offers both a cost-effective and sustainable option for managing Oxfordshire’s residual waste and will help the county achieve its aim of diverting non-recyclable or compostable waste away from landfill.

“We are contingency planning in respect of Oxfordshire waste but also offering a facility for the West London waste should the need arise.”

He said the potential to deal with London waste was because of the rail connection and the level of ‘waste imports’ from West London would remain as they are.

But the plans have been met with scepticism.

Ian Hudspeth, the county council cabinet member for infrastructure and chairman of Oxfordshire Waste Partnership, said: “WRG is not part of the procurement solution for Oxfordshire’s waste, therefore, if this facility were built, it would need to obtain waste from other areas.

“If you look at the MBT process you see that there is some residual waste which still has to be dealt with. But WRG is entitled to put an application in like anybody else.”

A council spokesman added: “Viridor’s plans for an incinerator in the north of the county remain the central component of the county council’s plan for the disposal of non-recycled waste.”

Local campaigner Robin Draper said: “It is a speculative application towards their intent to build a regional waste centre here and has no place in Sutton Courtenay.”

Fellow campaigner Callum MacKenzie said: “It is our village, not their village.”

WRG is due to submit its plans to Oxfordshire County council in July.

A public exhibition is due to be held at Sutton Courtenay Village Hall next Friday and Saturday.