A parish council has slammed Norfolk County Council for ignoring their objections to a thermal waste treatment plant near a Norfolk village and voiced concerns the plant could be used for incineration.

Quidenham parish councillors feared the county council was keeping its options open about putting an incinerator on the site in Harling Road, Snetterton, despite assurances from Peter Hawes, managing director of county council owned Norse Commercial Services, there were no plans to have such a burner.

The site, currently home to Snetterton Recycling Centre and the Lafarge Ready-Mix plant, is among 60 potential waste and mineral site locations around the county earmarked in a site specific allocations plan.

But the parish council's chairman Peter Lotarius told a council meeting at Garnier Hall in Eccles on Tuesday: 'Norfolk County Council tried to talk it down and said there was not going to be an incinerator, but that they want to keep their options open.

'It is like Stansted airport saying it was not going to build another runway, but we will keep an open mind for the future.'

And councillor Jasmine Salisbury added: 'What are we going to be living in in a few years time? It is horrible. It seems to me that there is a lot of environmental destruction going on courtesy of Norfolk County Council.'

Mr Lotarius said the county council had ignored three objections he had made against the proposals on the grounds the site was less than 400m away from Eccles, which could be affected by ammonia and nitrogen emmissions from the plant.

He also referred to plans for an incinerator at King's Lynn, fearing if these were refused pressure could be increased for an incinerator elsewhere in the county, such as at Snetterton.

Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS), part of the Norse Group of companies, has asked County Hall to allocate the 3.5-hectare site for waste purposes.

Among the proposed uses for the site are composting, anaerobic digestion, processing of recyclable energy from waste and thermal treatment. The allocations plan will go to the secretary of state before a public examination in the autumn.