A NEW country park will soon be created on the edge of Ipswich - but it means big problems for where the county will dispose of its rubbish in future.Foxhall waste site is rapidly filling up and once it is full, it will be transformed into parkland where people will be able to walk and play.

A NEW country park will soon be created on the edge of Ipswich - but it means big problems for where the county will dispose of its rubbish in future.

Foxhall waste site is rapidly filling up and once it is full, it will be transformed into parkland where people will be able to walk and play.

It will be some years before work at the huge site alongside the A12 is complete and people can enjoy a new piece of countryside, with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of topsoil to be brought in, methane extraction systems put in place, landscaping and planting to be done.

The project has long been a part of the county council's plans for the site - but are now coming closer with the landfill area becoming full.

Eddy Alcock, county council portfolio holder for environment, waste management and economic development, said today that Suffolk had about nine years of space left in its landfill sites at Wangford, Foxhall and Blakenham.

The council couldn't just open up new landfill sites because there were few suitable sites due to potential contamination of water courses, and the government was also imposing huge financial penalties on authorities which did not meet recycling targets.

He said: “It is a very real problem, not a myth. What we put into landfill in the future needs to be as small quantities as possible.”

The county council is looking at an incinerator which would generate electricity as a potential solution.

Mr Alcock said: “People call it an incinerator but it will be a power station with the heat providing electricity. It will be green and clean and the most cost effective solution.”

If the county council does not make a major change to how it manages waste, Suffolk could face additional costs of up to £6.7m per year by 2010 rising to £15.5m by 2013 - an additional increase in council tax of about £27 rising to £63 per year for Band D householders.

Government capping could prevent the rise but the council would still have to pay the penalty and cut other services to find the cash.

Do you think building a giant rubbish incinerator is the best solution to disposing of Suffolk's rubbish? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk