CAMPAIGNERS against a waste incinerator in Crewe have put together a 1000-name petition opposing the plans.

The petition was handed to council leader Brian Silvester this week amid claims that the incinerator could lead to a 'toxic rain' over Crewe and Nantwich.

Leighton ward councillor Derek Bebbington has thrown his weight behind local Conservative campaigners in their efforts to halt the controversial facility.

He said: "I am fully supportive of the campaign against the siting of a waste incinerator in Pym's Lane and I applaud all those who have taken the time to sign the petition against the waste incinerator."

Campaigner Judy Fox said that protesters wereopposed to the plans for a number of reasons.

She said: "Prevailing winds would mean that toxic fall-out would rain down over the whole of Crewe and Nantwich and the surrounding villages for a radius of 10 miles.

"To site a waste incinerator next to one of Crewe's most prestigious and successful employers, Bentley Motors, would be a crass act of municipal vandalism.

"The incinerator would generate an enormous number of heavy refuse vehicles which would add greatly to the fumes and pollution that residents and workers already have to suffer.

"The Middlewich Road is already one of the most dangerous roads in the country and the extra heavy traffic would only increase accidents and fatalities.

"The thousands of heavy refuse vehicles that would visit the incinerator would crack up further the pot-holed roads.

"And the cost of road repair would fall on local council taxpayers, not on the operators of the incinerator.

"House prices would fall in the vicinity of the waste incinerator because people would be reluctant to purchase a home in the potential toxic fall-out zone.

"The increased risk to mortality by living near an incinerator is confirmed on the Government's own DEFRA website.

"The toxic fall-out from the incinerator would mean an increased level of cancer in the population resident within a 10-mile radius."

The petition will be sent to Government inspectors who are holding a public enquiry into the Cheshire Waste Plan.