A COUNCIL has been accused of taking a “huge gamble” with taxpayers' money after backing a controversial £1.4bn waste disposal incinerator scheme.

After ten years of debate and legal challenges North Yorkshire County Council’s executive committee has agreed to go ahead with a deal with waste company AmeyCespa for a 25 year disposal site based at Allerton park, near Knaresborough.

It was thought the contract would be abandoned after the Government withdrew support last year through the Private Finance Initiative.

But officers said the scheme will still be viable and represents value for money - saving the authority £132m, reducing the carbon footprint and avoiding shovelling rubbish into increasingly expensive holes in the ground.

Bob Schofield of North Yorkshire Waste Action Group which has fought the deal from the start said the council has got its figures very badly wrong .

He said:” They are taking a huge gamble. Any significant savings will not occur, if ever, until the last five years of the contract.

"These are so far in the future that they are not reliable and therefore the risk of signing up for a 25 year £1.4bn contract is simply not worth taking.”

Opponents have challenged the council to look at alternatives to the incinerator.

But councillors were told the project, in partnership with York City Council, would avoid landfill penalties, boost the economy and be economically and financially viable, producing enough electricity to power a town the size of Harrogate.

If they do not continue with the contract the authority will be liable for a £5m termination fee to AmeyCespa .

Currently nearly half of household waste goes for recycling or composting with York and North Yorkshire collecting about 230,000 tonnes of waste which largely goes into landfill.

North Yorkshire has a landfill budget of £28.4m a year, about half of which is tax imposed by the Government.

Cllr Chris Metcalfe said:”The savings are substantial, I believe the figures are as robust as we can reasonably expect. We will be in control of our waste and costs well into the future and we will not be a hostage to the vagaries of the market place. This is affordable and deliverable.”

Cllr Gareth Dadd said members had looked at it putting 60 per cent on environmental arguments and 40 per cent on financial.

He added: “I think we have a duty to take decisions for tomorrow. It might well be easy to look at the short term, but we have a moral duty to make decisions for the future."

The decision goes to the full council for confirmation on Wednesday, November 12.