THOUSANDS of protesters are being asked to come forward to beat plans for a Mersey waste plant.

Around 2,000 objectors deluged planning officials to rubbish proposals for a 300,000-tonne reprocessing centre close to houses and overlooking the estuary. They forced the company behind the hi-tech plant, Jack Allen Holdings, to withdraw a planning application in December.

Now the company has redrawn its plans and will again ask for permission to build a smaller centre next to Dingle Bank, in Garston.

Last year, objectors said the proposal was too tall and would mean too many lorries driving through Garston.

The plans are now for a 150,000-tonne plant, which will be 15 metres tall, rather than 21 metres as originally planned.

It will also see around 11 lorries arriving and leaving the plant each hour, instead of 24.

The plant will use autoclaves that treat the waste with steam to sterilise and break it down.

But Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool’s executive member for assets and development, said he was against the “principle” of building a rubbish centre that is “too close to houses for comfort”.