RESIDENTS are calling for the “garish” colours of cladding on a £100m incinerator near Bicester to be toned down.

County councillor Catherine Fulljames claims residents have been misled over how the incinerator would look.

She says when the building was at the planning stage councillors and residents were shown designs of a grey burner, like a similar structure off the M25 near Heathrow airport.

But as the incinerator, in Ardley, near Bicester, has taken shape, cladding coloured green, blue yellow and gold has been added to the building.

The burner is in countryside between the villages of Ardley with Fewcott, Bucknell, and Middleton Stoney, near Bicester.

Mrs Fulljames said: “I think we have been misled about the magnitude of colours and the amount of space on the building the colours have taken up.

“It doesn’t fit with the local countryside, which the architects said it would blend in with. It is literally a blot on the landscape.

“People think it’s temporary sheeting but it’s not.

“We were hood-winked. We were told this incinerator design was like the one at Heathrow but that is not what has actually been built — they have really led everyone astray I think.”

Campaigners say another problem is that sheeting used for cladding reflects in the sun and is causing light pollution.

A Bucknell resident, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s a rural landscape and they are choosing to put colours there that are totally inappropriate that don’t blend into the landscape. Having so much translucent sheeting is causing light intrusion coming out into the rural landscape.”

The resident also raised concerns the reflections of the colours could distract motorists driving on the nearby M40.

Earlier this year Oxfordshire County Council’s planning and regulation committee approved materials with a duller finish instead of shiny material. At the same time translucent green and yellow tiles were also approved.

Council spokesman Paul Smith said: “The council is very much aware of concerns in the local community about the colouring of cladding and has recorded those concerns with Viridor.

“Viridor has not breached any planning consents. However, dialogue between Viridor, the local community and the county council is continuing on this subject in response to the concerns raised.”

The controversial burner is expected to open next summer and will be able to take up to 300,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste a year. Plans for the incinerator were approved by the Secretary of State on appeal in 2011.

A Viridor spokesman said the plans had been subject to “robust” public and statutory consultation.

He said: “All of the materials used in the construction of the EfW plant are as approved in the planning permission; they have been fully consulted upon and verified as being the correct materials by the local planning officers.

“Throughout the process we have engaged with the community.”