ENVIRONMENTALISTDavid Bellamy has attacked a council's decision to approve plans to build an animal incinerator close to a beauty spot.

Professor Bellamy said he was 'appalled' that planners at Durham County Council had passed proposals to build two 50ft chimneys on a hillside above Hamsterley Forest.

The botanist has been one of the biggest critics of the incinerator, which will serve as an extension to a knacker's yard at Eden Hall, Hamsterley, near Bishop Auckland.

Dr Bellamy lives at nearby Bedburn and claims the incinerators will be an eyesore.

Dr Bellamy has raised fears over the safety of emissions from the plant and said an increase in the number of lorries coming to and from the site will cause a nuisance.

Many of the carcasses brought to the site would be cattle more than 30 months old, culled to minimise any risk of BSE. It is expected to burn up to 15 wagon loads of carcasses every day, seven days a week, and would be used in any future foot-and-mouth outbreak.

In a statement issued to The Advertiser's sister paper, The Northern Echo, Dr Bellamy said: "You should all be appalled, as I am, at the cavalier fashion in which the county council allowed their committee to railroad the decision to build two incinerators at the entrance to Hamsterley Forest - one of County Durham's most loved and well-used rural amenity areas.

"Passed at a nod, there was no discussion of the case against such an incongruous development in an area of landscape beauty, which makes its living from tourism."

A spokesman for the county council said: "Members of the planning committee considered all the issues carefully, including advice from the environment agency.

"The committee also visited the site and viewed it from several vantage points so I think it's fair to say members looked at all the points raised by Dr Bellamy.