TWO residents' action groups in Widnes have joined forces to block plans to increase the amount of sewage sludge burned at the Shell Green site at Barrows Green, Widnes.

Derek Mellor, co-ordinator of the Barrows Green Residents Action Group, which was formed about a month ago in response to a proposed £100m development by United Utilities, said they had met members of Halton View Action group to thrash out their response to the company's plans.

The residents decided to launch a petition after a public meeting at which a majority of members voted to take action against the proposals.

They either want the plans thrown out or at least a pause in the building of further incinerators until a study into the health of the borough's population is published by experts from Lancaster University in January - they fear the study could show that burning more sludge could harm health.

Other objections have been levelled against the visual impact of an extended chimney stack and the possibility of traffic congestion while work on the project gets under way.

Mr Mellor said: 'We are looking at the link between environmental factors and ill health in the borough and are joining with the other group and Friends of the Earth in asking for a moratorium until the report's publication.'

'It is quite worrying because as we know health is a big concern here.

'There are already 13 incinerators in the Halton area and anything else is not good.

'And it encourages other commercial ventures to see Halton as an easy touch for this kind of development.'

A United Utilities spokesman said that the Environment Agency had very strict rules covering emissions contents and concentrations which were set out to protect public health and the environment and that the company would have to comply to maintain its licence.

He assured residents that the waste products at the site would go through a three stage cleaning up process including washing and filtration through activated carbon, a process which not only beats the current legislation but would match new EU standards to be set out in 2005.

He said the Shell Green site was an essential element in the water treat-ment process which had led to the Mersey river being at its cleanest for many years.

And he added that the United Utilities planning application was for just one further incineration stream as permission had already been granted for the third when the original facility got the go ahead.