A DIRECTOR of a company planning a composting plant in the Preston area has defended his firm's actions against objectors to the vetoed scheme.

Lancashire County Council recently threw out plans, from TEG environmental, Sandy Lane, Leyland, to build a compost site in Thropps Lane, Longton.

The Citizen went to an existing compost plant in Ratton Lane, Hutton, to hear TEG's financial director and two protesting Hutton residents exchange views.

Housed in a large, wooden, agricultural looking shed and situated down a long leafy lane, the area smelled of the nearby turkey shed rather than its contents.

Mike Cox, from TEG, said: "People do not want waste to be incinerated and they don't want landfills but we all produce waste every day and it has all got to treated. Living near a compost plant is only like having a composter in your garden."

However, David Mander, from Anchor Estate, Hutton, said: "This is not an agricultural process, it is industrial and it should not be in a green field area."

Chicken manure and coffee waste are emptied into tanks inside the wooden building and, 21 days later, a powdery soil is bagged up to use as fertiliser on gardens.

Since Monday August 13, the Environment Agency have decided to object to composting processes within 250 metres of dwellings or work places unless an independent risk assessment shows low levels of bioaerosols.

Although bioaerosols can be reduced they are a natural consequence vegetation going through the biodegradation process and can cause respiratory problems.

Mr Cox said: "We control bioaerosols through good management -- by keeping the compost still but well ventilated, at a high water content and enclosed in a building."

David argued: "It may not do any harm now but the ingredients may be changed to incorporate human and animal sewage like the Longton site proposed to do."

Mike said: "The compost reaches seventy degrees, killing microbes and pathogens so the only emissions from cages at Longton would have been Co2 and water vapour."

He added: "We have to have a waste management licence and the Environment Agency can close us down if we breach any agreement."

Geoff Norris, a Ratton Lane resident for 35 years, said: "This visit has not changed our minds -- dangerous changes may be made in the future and we feel at risk."