OPPONENTS of a controversial toxic waste incinerator were last night dismayed to learn that work on the plant could start within 12 months.

Cory Environmental Ltd won permission to build the £35m incinerator at Seal Sands, near Billingham, Teesside, a decade ago but later announced that it had shelved the plans.

Now the company has applied to Stockton Borough Council to renew its permission.

The incinerator is designed to handle both hazardous and conventional waste, including contaminated chemicals, solvents, oils, greases, pharmaceuticals and paints.

Burning 30,000 tonnes of waste each year of its 25-year life, it would be one of only four incinerators in the UK able to deal with toxic waste - and the first in the North-East.

The former Cleveland County Council rejected the original application in 1990 on the grounds that it was a "danger to public health".

But Cory Environmental appealed and a two-year inquiry overturned the decision, ruling such fears were unfounded. It renewed its permission in 1997 - in line with planning rules - but said that the scheme might never go ahead because of Government policy on waste and the general economic situation.

Achilleas Georgiou, a spokesman for the company, said that conditions were now right. "The amount of waste is higher than it's ever been, and a European Union Landfill Directive, which came into operation in July, states that countries should limit the amount of waste they send to landfill sites," he said.

Peter Goodwin, spokesman for the Green Party on Teesside, was among 60,000 petition signatories who opposed the plans in 1990.

He said: "Burning toxic waste a mile or two from the heart of Middlesbrough would be as irresponsible as you could get."

If, as expected, Stockton councillors give the plans the go-ahead this morning, Cory will still have to apply to the Environment Agency for an operating licence.