CAMPAIGNERS fighting to stop a massive county incinerator from being built on the fringe of their village are capturing residents’ anger and sorrow on film to express the depth of local feeling against the scheme.

Anti-incinerator campaigners in Colney Heath are collating short clips to show Herts county council (HCC), which recently approved Veolia’s scheme, and the Secretary of State, who has since put a hold on it, why locals are fiercely opposed to the waste burner.

Entitled “bin the incinerator” villagers have also been invited to send a short mobile phone video of themselves or friends, colleagues and family members explaining their objection to Veolia’s scheme.

The company was given approval to build an incinerator to burn domestic, medical and industrial waste – 380,000 tonnes a year – on Green Belt land a mile from Colney Heath, at New Barnfield, Hatfield.

HCC ignored 6,300 objections from across the county, including from St Albans district council, to approve the scheme. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles has issued a “holding direction” on the proposal while he decides whether to call in the application and hold a public enquiry.

One of the campaigners, Susan Salter, said: “The film is being devised to ensure that HCC will understand the catastrophic effect the proposed incinerator plans are having on local residents.

“Colney Heath campaigners wish to rubber-stamp the huge upset the proposed incinerator has caused. When visiting neighbours while petitioning, they witnessed tears, upset and hysteria, and the older generation begging for something to be done to stop this dreadful proposal.”

Susan had some advice for those on how to record their thoughts for the film on their mobile phones. She recommended people hold their phone in “landscape position, go into the filming option, introduce yourself and in a few words explain why you object to the incinerator”.

Email your objection video to: bintheincinerator@yahoo.co.uk

Those needing assistance can phone Susan on 07960 391 891, leaving contact details, or attend a Bin the Incinerator rally at 2.30pm this Saturday (16) at the Crooked Billet in Colney Heath, where help is also available.

n Residents have until Friday, December 21, to submit comments on HCC’s proposed waste sites document. It lists possible waste sites throughout the county, including at New Barnfield and in St Albans.