VILLAGERS have submitted a dossier of questions about a plan to build an incinerator near their homes.

Bucknell Parish Council has sent Oxfordshire County Council 23 questions regarding plans to build the incinerator in Ardley, North Oxfordshire.

The £100m incinerator is the brainchild of company Viridor.

If Viridor’s plan is given the go ahead, the facility would burn up to 300,000 tonnes of waste per year.

The parish council has asked the county council — the authority which has yet to decide whether or not to grant Viridor permission to build the incinerator — how it would deal with an emergency situation and who would be responsible for any health conditions linked to waste incineration.

Villagers want to know if they would be eligible for compensation if their property values dropped due to the facility being built.

They have also asked for assurances that there will no airborne contamination and that the transport of any toxic materials will be safe.

Mark Gammond, acting chairman of Bucknell Parish Council, said: “Because of Bucknell’s close proximity to the proposed Ardley incinerator, our parishioners are gravely concerned about the possible health risks and this concern is widespread throughout the community.

“It must also be stressed that there are health risks associated with a major incident or a disaster scenario.

“The consequences of these could be much more severe than the risks of day-to-day operations.”

A spokesman for Viridor said: "We carried out a comprehensive public consultation about our proposals prior to submitting our planning application, and throughout the process we have responded to all questions local residents and other stakeholders submitted to us.”

The county council is expected to make a decision in July over which one of the two proposed sites, Ardley or Sutton Courtenay, will get the green light for the incinerator.

A county council spokesman said: “We aim to look at the questions posed by Bucknell Parish Council, along with others, regarding the Ardley incinerator proposals at a planning and regulation committee meeting in the summer.”