BOROUGH chiefs have today been criticised for not opposing the idea of having an incinerator in Great Blakenham.Suffolk County Council is currently considering five possible sites for incinerators that may be needed to cope with increasing amounts of household and industrial rubbish in the coming years.

BOROUGH chiefs have today been criticised for not opposing the idea of having an incinerator in Great Blakenham.

Suffolk County Council is currently considering five possible sites for incinerators that may be needed to cope with increasing amounts of household and industrial rubbish in the coming years.

Ipswich council has now lodged a formal objection to the proposal of an incinerator at Sproughton but did not make any representation about the two Great Blakenham sites.

The move has sparked criticism among the opposition, who believe that an incinerator at either Great Blakenham site - the former Masons cement works quarry or the highways depot - could send a trail of toxic fumes over north west Ipswich.

At an executive meeting this week councillors voted to formally oppose the Sproughton proposal as theyfelt there was not enough information to back it.

The Labour group at both the county and borough councils are opposed to having a waste incinerator anywhere, especially near Ipswich, because it is the most heavily populated part of the county and would cost up to �600m.

Sandy Martin, the borough's Labour spokesman for the environment, said: “We are pleased that the borough council has objected to the Sproughton site but I cannot understand why the same objections do not apply to Great Blakenham. People are already taking a more responsible environmental attitude to their own waste, and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats should be encouraging that, not agreeing to an incinerator which will be a giant slap in the face to all those keen recyclers throughout Suffolk.”

Louise Gooch, the borough's environment spokeswoman, said: “As far as the two Great Blakenham sites are concerned, there is already a landfill there and in terms of the impact on the residents, it makes no difference to what is there at the moment.”

The other shortlisted sites include the former sugar beet factory in Sproughton, Shepherd's Grove Industrial Estate at Stanton, and Eye Industrial Estate, near Brome estate.

The final consultation for the incinerator decision will be in July. If all goes to plan, it will be adopted in December 2010.

Do you live in Great Blakenham and oppose the incinerator proposal? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.