By Julian Whittle

Last updated 14:11, Wednesday, 09 July 2008

Hespin Wood near Carlisle has been named as the preferred site for a household-waste treatment plant.

Joan Stocker

The new facility, which is not an incinerator, dries and separates rubbish to recycle as much as possible.

The aim is to cut by three-quarters the amount buried in landfill sites.

A second treatment plant will be built near Barrow.

And so-called “transfer stations” will be set up near Penrith, at Distington in west Cumbria, and Kendal Fell.

Refuse wagons will take rubbish to these transfer stations from where bulk loads will go by lorry for treatment at Carlisle or Barrow.

Cumbria County Council is poised to sign a £400m deal with Shanks Waste Solutions to build and operate these facilities for 25 years.

The council’s cabinet, which met yesterday, heard that Shanks had still to identify a site for the Barrow plant.

But it had chosen Hespin Wood, where there is already a county council landfill site, as the ideal place for a treatment plant serving north Cumbria.

The proposed Distington transfer station is also at an existing landfill site.

And the Penrith transfer station will either be at North Lakes Business Park or the nearby Flusco landfill site.

The council’s deputy leader, Joan Stocker, praised a Shanks waste plant that has been operating at Dumfries for more than a year.

She said: “People need not be frightened of what this means. When you see these plants you hardly know what they are – they are so clean and pleasant.”

Shanks uses a process called mechanical-biological treatment to break down and sort household waste.

Most can be recycled or re-used, perhaps as aggregate for the construction industry.

Anything left is buried or sent away for incineration.

The dramatic reduction in the volume of waste buried should allow the council to avoid £315m in landfill fines over the 25-year contract.

The council says Shanks carried out a “stringent selection process” to arrive at its preferred sites.

It ruled out locations subject to flooding or in environmentally-sensitive areas, those close to schools or housing, and any where protected species might be at risk.

The firm still needs planning permission, however.

It will bring a roadshow, explaining its proposals, to areas affected and it will brief parish councils, neighbourhood forums and residents’ associations.

The first treatment plant is due to open in 2011/12.