Waste bosses have officially confirmed Rookery Pit is their number one site for a new plant to burn household waste.

The Times & Citizen revealed last month the old clay quarry between Millbrook and Stewartby was in the frame for an "energy from waste" (EfW) facility.

After more media coverage, the county council admitted this week the southern end of the pit has been ranked at the top of a shortlist of three possible locations. The other two contenders are land at the eastern edges of the Stewartby and Brogborough landfills.

A meeting heard on Tuesday the council has reached "lock-out" agreements with the owners of all three sites, giving it exclusive rights to negotiate with them.

If, as seems likely, the council cabinet endorses Rookery as the preferred site at the end of the month, an option will be secured on the land at a cost of around £50,000.

According to a report considered at Tuesday's meeting, the option "will guarantee...availability whilst the land is purchased".

Although the issue of the potential venue for the EfW plant seems to have grown clearer, some councillors still have doubts over its possible impact.

Coun Gary Summerfield (Lib Dem, Ampthill) said: "The fall-out of whatever is going to go up the chimney – where is it going to come out?
"I have been a resident like others here affected by the smell from the brickyards at Stewartby, which is a sulphur fall-out and can be smelled from various places depending on where the wind is. So where will the fall-out fall, and what will it be?"

However, Huw Jones, director of environment, said the plant would be rigorously controlled and would not give off pollution. A failsafe mechanism would stop operation if certain levels of emissions were neared.

Bedfordshire's recycling rate hit a record 35 per cent last year.
But the county still faces potential fines from the EU if it keeps landfilling too much biodegradable waste.

It is planning a £100 to £120 million EfW plant to burn "residual" rubbish which cannot be recycled, rather than have it buried at great cost. The council intends the facility to be a combined heat and power unit, generating enough electricity to supply 17,000 to 20,000 homes, plus steam for industrial or domestic use.

After a drawn-out selection process, the three sites were revealed to the environment and economic development overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday.

Excluded from the list were Chelveston Airfield in North Beds and the Elstow pits, put forward by their owners as potential sites for a plant in a separate consultation being run by the council. Neither site made the top ten, let alone the shortlist of three.

Mr Jones said the plant, which is due to be ready by 2011 or 2012, could be a big plus for the Marston Vale.

He said: "If, for instance, a housing developer wanted a district heating system at advantageous rates, we could provide that. If you had a food processor that needed steam, then we could do a contract for steam with this.

"There are opportunities to be part of the economic reconstruction that we need in the Vale. It would give a real kick-start to say, 'Come here and have it cheap'."