THE British Government has been hauled over the coals by the European Commission over its handling of the burning of toxic waste fuels at a Clitheroe cement works.

Castle Cement was given permission to burn Cemfuel at its Ribblesdale works in 1992 by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution, now the Environment Agency. But the European Commission has issued the UK Government with a formal public warning for failing to carry out an environmental assessment before giving Castle Cement the go-ahead to burn the controversial fuel.

The matter may also be referred to the European Court of Justice for further action.

Clean air campaigners have cautiously welcomed the judgement and stepped up their calls for a moratorium on the burning of Cemfuel until the Commission clarified its intentions.

Chris Davies, Member of the European Parliament for the North West of England, said the ruling was highly embarrassing for the British Government.

European Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said: "The United Kingdom is to be referred to the European Court of Justice for shortcomings in its environmental laws and has received a formal warning for failing to carry out an environmental impact assessment for the burning of hazardous and non-hazardous waste in cement kilns in Lancashire.

"The Commission considers that before being approved, this change should have been environmentally assessed in accordance with our Environmental Impact Assessment Directive. Member states are required to undertake the assessments when there is likely to be a significant impact on the environment."

MEP Chris Davies said he was waiting for the Commission to identify the implications of the ruling, but it was unlikely that the Ribblesdale kilns would be shut down. I think the Commission's intention is to tighten environmental legislation for future use.

"The UK Government is being rapped on the knuckles to ensure this doesn't happen again and it must be a source of embarrassment that it was left wanting in its implementation of a directive that it signed up to, willingly and enthusiastically."

But Clitheroe clean air campaigner Lynda England said a rap on the knuckles was not good enough and called on the Government to put a halt to the burning of Cemfuel until the Commission had made its position clear.

She said: "We have put up with this fuel in the Ribble Valley for 10 years and are calling for the harshest measures possible against the UK Government and a moratorium on the burning of Cemfuel."

If the matter is referred to the European Court of Justice, it could take a year for the case to be heard and the UK Government could be fined or ordered to carry out an environmental assessment of Clitheroe.

Mike Childs, senior pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth UK, said: "It's not clear what will happen but a formal warning is serious and cannot be dismissed lightly."

Castle Cement's general manager Ian Sutheran refused to comment.