WASTE bosses who are looking for a site on which to build an incinerator have bought an option to buy a plot in Wirral.

The site is currently being used by Biossence, which plans to open a waste processing plant there.

But the Daily Post understands Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) paid the firm £100,000 to have first refusal over the site.

Biossence want to use a technology called “gasification” to treat waste and turn it into gases, which are then burnt to generate electricity. But MWDA is looking to build Energy from Waste sites, which would burn rubbish more directly.

It means the authority could build a 400,000-tonne incinerator on the site, which is in Eastham’s Hooton Park, in south Wirral.

The news last night sparked anger among Eastham’s conservationists. Marjorie Hall, from Eastham Village Preservation Association, fought against the Biossence plans. She said: “I think we’ve had enough of rubbish. We would just be the dumping ground for Europe.”

If MWDA push ahead with the plans it would need to go back to Wirral’s planning committee to revise the planning permission for the site. Eastham councillor Tom Harvey said: “I think there would be a lot of opposition.

“They seem to think it’s quite appropriate to have waste disposal near to the population centre in Eastham. That’s one of the things that upsets people.”