THIS is an artist's impression of the £60m waste treatment and energy recovery facility proposed for Hooton Park.

Biossence has submitted a planning application to Wirral Borough Council to use a combination of existing technologies to bring about a new, greener method of handling household waste.

Interested parties can view displays and make comments about the scheme at two public information events tonight and tomorrow.

Biossence says the plant will help divert hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste from landfill sites and prevent local councils incurring stiff Government penalties in the future.

The facility will be capable of handling 400,000 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste -things which can't be recycled but can be turned into energy - a year, and be able to produce enough electricity to power 50,000 homes.

It will also create around 100 new jobs for Ellesmere Port, Neston and Wirral.

'What we are proposing is a cleaner solution to the problem of disposing of household waste,' said Biossence director, Dr Ralf Trottnow.

'We believe our facility will represent an important breakthrough in the search for an acceptable method of waste disposal.'

Biossence also intends to use the plant as an educational facility and will welcome visitors to 'walk through' the entire process.

Dr Trottnow said the site, a disused petroleum tank farm close to Vauxhall Motors and Eastham Oil Terminal, was chosen as it already has approval for waste treatment use, and is close to a motorway junction and the Manchester Ship Canal. Much of the waste will be transported in special sealed containers on barges to minimise the amount of traffic using local roads.

* The information events are from 6-8.30pm tonight at the Old Anselmians RUFC Clubhouse and 1-8.30pm tomorrow at St David's Church Hall, both Eastham. All are welcome to attend.