VILLAGERS are gearing up to fight a second round in their battle to stop a giant Incinerator being built on their doorstep.

Residents in 19 villages including Ardley, Fewcott, Fritwell, Bucknell and Middleton Stoney are to lobby councillors over plans for a Incinerator in Ardley, near Bicester.

Waste firm Viridor submitted a second planning application for the same site despite its first proposals still being under a public inquiry, which has yet to announce a decision.

The first application was unanimously rejected last year by Oxfordshire County Council’s planning committee, and the firm then appealed. The new application will be heard on October 25.

County Hall bosses say the incinerator is needed to avoid rising landfill taxes.

Jonathan O’Neill, chairman of the Ardley Against the Incinerator campaign group, said: “It’s the same thing as last time. We are lobbying the 15 members of the Oxfordshire County Council planning committee to say ‘guys, this is not a walkover, there is a wave of public support’.”

“People power works and we need people power again – either to pick up the phone and call the council, write, email or turn up on October 25. It is about raising the game again to say this is not a tiny part of Oxfordshire and you can’t just walk over us.”

Campaigners held a public meeting on Tuesday night at Ardley Village Hall to make the call.

They will also launch an email campaign on Friday at County Hall, Oxford.

Every day during the campaign, all the members of the county’s planning committee will be sent an image of the devastation protesters say the incinerator plant would cause.

One shows the height of the incinerator’s chimney compared to a water tower at Trow Pool, Bucknell, and another will show a UK map with the county as the nation’s dumping ground for waste.

Information packs have also been delivered to homes explaining how residents can lodge an objection.

Viridor project manager Robert Ryan said: “We have developed proposals for a safe, cost-effective and robust solution to Oxfordshire’s need – a need which has been recognised both by the council’s waste management and planning departments by selecting our bid and previously recommending our initial application for approval respectively.

“Energy from waste provides a much more efficient way of dealing with waste that is not recycled than simply burying in the ground.”

The county council declined to comment.

The new application is for a plant the same size as the first, but dealing with more of the county’s refuse. It would burn up to 300,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste annually and produce electricity capable of powering 60 per cent of homes across the Cherwell district.

Meanwhile a campaigner has warned that Bicester could end up with two incinerators within 12 miles of the town, after another burner plan was submitted for Buckinghamshire.

Waste firm Waste Recycling Group (WRG) has submitted a planning application for Edgcott/Calvert, just across the county border.

The move takes Bicester a step closer to having two incinerators within 15 miles — one five miles to the north in Ardley and a second 10 miles east in Calvert. Stop Aylesbury Vale Incinerator spokesman Maggi Campbell Keith said: “Bicester is set to be the filling in a very nasty sandwich if both developments go ahead.”

Ardley Against the Incinerator chairman Jon O’Neill said: “We have concerns about traffic and the fact that Bicester and the surrounding villages will be sandwiched between two incinerators and 600,000 tonnes of waste.”

Buckinghamshire County Council has yet to decide whether WRG or Covanta will run its incinerator.

The latter would go at Stewartby in Bedfordshire. WRG declined to comment.

The planning application is expected go out to public consultation soon.