A WOMAN has failed in a High Court bid to overturn a Durham County Council decision that a local cement works can go ahead with a plan to burn waste derived fuel.

The asthma Elaine Lowther developed seven years ago was probably caused by spillage during delivery of a consignment of secondary liquid fuel (SLF) bound for the Thrislington and Eastgate Cement Works, Mr Justice Gibbs told London's High Court.

But the judge refused to overturn the council's decision that the cement works could continue burning SLF without having to apply for new planning consent.

The court was told SLF is a name given by the cement industry to a fuel composed of hydrocarbons and contaminants derived from waste organic solvents generated by the chemical and paint industries.

If the solvents were not blended to form SLF they would have to be disposed of, at a substantial cost, by incineration. The producers of SLF pay cement and lime kiln operators a small sum to use it as fuel.

On February 10, 1999, following a report including the advice of leading property lawyer Michael Fitzgerald, QC, the council decided to reverse its earlier stance that special planning permission would be required to burn the fuel.

Lord Kingsland, representing Mrs Lowther, argued the burning of SLF, whether or not it constituted a material change of use at the plant, required the council to conduct an environmental assessment before permitting its use.

But Mr Justice Gibbs ruled: "It is difficult, if not impossible, to envisage any effect, either in planning terms or in terms of impact in the environment, of the processes which Mrs Lowther argues constitutes a material change of use."

Mrs Lowther, of West Cornforth, was refused permission to appeal.