Conservative MP Philip Hammond met representatives from Tockwith Residents' Association who are currently fighting BCB Environmental's plans to build a £18m waste-burning incinerator on the near-by Marston Moor Business Park.

Mr Hammond told villagers his own constituents in Runnymede, Surrey, were fighting a similar waste incinerator plant near their homes and were contemplating a legal challenge.

He said: "Incineration facilities need to be positioned very carefully to avoid blighting the lives of local communities through smells, noise, emissions and traffic. It is immediately apparent to me that Tockwith is not the right place for a facility of this type."

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BCB Environmental recently announced it had secured £6m from Foresight Group – a leading investor in unquoted companies - to build the incinerator it claims will produce enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.

If its plans are given the go-ahead by North Yorkshire County Council, a further £12m of funding will be provided by a major bank in the form of long-term senior debt.

But Tockwith Residents' Association spokesman, Mark Algar, says he wants to see some of the money spent on submitting a Pollution Prevention and Control Permit application to the Environment Agency.

He said: "In order for these proposals to be approved, BCB require both planning permission from North Yorkshire County Council and an Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Permit.

"When the Environment Agency objected to this planning proposal, they also urged BCB to lodge their permit application at once so the two permissions could be dealt with at the same time.

"This would allow for wider consultations with organisations like the Health Protection Agency to take place

before the planning application was finalised."

But Mr Algar claims BCB has shown no inclination to apply for a permit and he also claims the company do not yet want to spend the £27,000 which the permit application would cost.

He said: "But now they have got £18 million in their piggy bank, surely there is nothing standing in the way of BCB doing this."

BCB has, however, confirmed it already has a Pollution Prevention and Control Permit which it said would be modified for its current application.

BCB's spokesman could not confirm whether such a modification would cost money at this stage but it was working with its professional advisors on the matter.

susannah.berry@ypn.co.uk