A ROW over plans for burning waste could land Cheshire Council Tax payers with a £72m bill.

That is the warning after Vale Royal Borough Council declined to support a county-wide bid for Government funding.

The authority's environment chief, Cllr Malcolm Gaskill, (Lib Dem, Winsford Swanlow) says heating the waste could produce harmful dioxins while discouraging recycling.

Vale Royal is the only one of six district councils which has refused to back Cheshire County Council's application for up to £40m in Private Finance Initiative money.

The county's waste manager, Harold Collin, claims that taking inflation into account, that could land the tax payer with a £72m bill over 25 years.

The authority's bid proposes treating residual waste after recycling at one of two Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plants which will separate re-usable materials and contaminants.

But new legislation means authorities must think carefully before sending the pellets produced for landfill.

They will be fined £150 for every tonne of waste landfilled above new Government allowances.

The county's bid envisages burning the remaining waste at an Energy From Waste facility.

Cllr Gaskill said: 'Nobody will tell you the sort of dioxins that might be mixed and scientists are now trying to find an alternative safe use for the pellets.

'There is a market on the continent for them to be used as compost and they could also be used as soil improvers in landscaping.'

Cllr Gaskill labelled the county council's target of recycling 50% of waste by 2020 as 'pathetic', with Vale Royal hoping to achieve 40% this year.

'The county could face financial penalties if it enters into a contract to produce waste for an incinerator and then does not have enough.

'It would be like a monster that needed feeding and could restrict recycling.'

But Cllr Brian Lloyd (Frodsham), leader of Vale Royal's Labour opposition group, slammed the authority's ruling Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition.

'This has put the money in jeopardy,' he said. We're more likely to end up with an incinerator if the county does not get this funding because it is the less expensive option.'

Vale Royal has drawn up its own application to DEFRA backing an MBT plant but not an Energy From Waste facility.