A DATE has been set for a public hearing into an unpopular massive county incinerator, approved to be built near a St Albans village by the county council despite widespread opposition.

The public inquiry into Veolia’s proposed incinerator, which was given the go-ahead last year for construction at New Barnfield, Hatfield, about a mile from Colney Heath, starts on September 10 this year and is expected to last 12 days.

Following the hearing, a planning inspector will prepare a report for a decision by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles who had called it in for his department to make the final decision.

Herts county council’s cabinet member for waste Cllr Derrick Ashley said: “The public inquiry is an opportunity for all interested parties to put their comments forward. We recognise that as this is a complex application for a facility in the Green Belt, it is going to be controversial.”

More than 6,300 residents opposed the scheme.