CAMPAIGNERS battling against a proposed animal incinerator which falls within 400 yards of a crematorium say they will fight the plans all the way.

Residents, councillors and planning officers all expressed concern at a public meeting over the proximity of Burnley Crematorium to Enviro Skips Ltd at the former Hapton Valley Colliery site.

Fears are growing that people attending the cremation of loved ones will have to contend with the smell of burning carcasses at the incinerator, especially on windy days.

Labour councillors in the area are among those campaigning against the plans to install the incinerator for abattoir waste -- including body parts, guts, offal and blood.

Coun Andy Tatchell, who represents Hapton, said the campaign was going well and 568 signatures had already been collected and sent to Lancashire County Council.

Health and safety experts are also said to be concerned about the potential emissions of poisonous gases like nitrogen dioxide.

Enviro Skips already has a domestic, commercial and industrial waste transfer station at Hapton Valley Colliery.

The incinerator would operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week with deliveries being carried out 12 hours a day.

Noreen Mitchell is among residents in Valley Gardens, where almost every home in the street has a poster in the window saying "No to an animal incinerator in Hapton."

She said: "We would be absolutely disgusted if the plans were given the go-ahead.

"It would be very close to the crematorium and the last thing that people who are burning their loved ones would want to do is to smell the awful smell of burning animal carcasses.

"On top of that our house prices would plummet and the smell that would come from the incinerator would be unbearable."

Councillor John Harbour said: "I am concerned for the businesses who thought they were coming to a primary location."

Nobody from the company was available for comment.