AN MP has likened waste incinerators as ‘Trojan horses’ as she aired plans to build facility close to Barton Stacey.

For the third time this year Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, used a parliamentary platform to raise concerns over the Harewood Incinerator proposed by American company Wheelabrator.

She was speaking at a Westminster Hall debate on commercial and industrial waste incineration which was sparked by objections to a similar scheme in Cardiff.

Like the Harewood Incinerator, the heat produced would have no market and go to waste. An eight-kilometre trench would be required to transfer the Harewood power to the National Grid.

Ms Nokes said that the facility is “presented as a clean, green way to heat the local town, but it is far from that”, adding that all over the country incinerators “are being dressed up as energy producing waste plants.”

She added: ”We have to account for the true cost of these facilities, the impact on air quality, the emissions from heavy diesel vehicles driven many hundreds of miles to bring waste from far afield, and the current policy which allows CO2 from biogenic (food, plants etc) sources to be ignored in the context of climate change.”

She said half the energy generated comes from burning fossil carbon - plastics – and emits as much pollution and CO2 as coal-fired energy.

Andy Jolliffe, spokesman for the Keep Test Valley Beautiful campaign group said: “Ms Nokes clearly has a deep understanding of the problems with these incinerators and we are pleased she is highlighting them among the people who decide future waste policy.”

A new Government strategy for waste is expected soon and it will include a huge expansion of household food waste collection, diverting it from incineration.