Sandon parish council is asking Environment Secretary John Prescott to call in for his own consideration a planning application which would involve the tipping of household waste at the Sandon quarry.

The application, from Brett Waste Management Ltd, to restore the old mineral workings to pasture and woodland using mostly domestic waste from Essex, is due to go to Essex County Council's planning committee on Friday, July 30.

Although a direction from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, issued at the request of Chelmsford Borough Council, will prevent the committee from giving formal approval at this stage, county councillors are being recommended by their officers to grant conditional permission subject to the Secretary of State not calling in the application and a number of other conditions.

Parish council chairman, Don Reel, said a decision should not be made before the planning inquiry in November into the Essex Waste Plan, which also proposes Sandon as a major waste disposal site, which it is feared could include an incinerator.

Mr Reel said there were more than 40 homes within 250 metres of the site.

"Parishioners are concerned about smells, flies, gulls and litter," he said. "There is a community perception of fear of living near the site."

Mr Mike Courts, general manager, group planning and development, with Brett Waste Management Ltd, said the intention was to restore the site to the benefit of the whole area, including a country park, woodland, nature conservation areas and bridleways.

The scheme would have to be carried out under a licence issued by the Environment Agency, he pointed out.

He added: "This is waste from Chelmsford. It is society's waste which has to be dealt with. There are not facilities in place to deal with it at present except by sites such as Sandon."

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