ASSURANCES have been given that a scheme to convert rubbish into energy on a moorland farm will be safe.

Victor Buchanan, managing director of Bioflame of Pickering, is seeking planning permission from the North York Moors National Park Authority to install a biomass waste energy generator at its headquarters at South View Farm, in the hamlet of Yatts, near Pickering.

Nearby residents have objected to the scheme, as has the Duchy of Lancaster and Newton and Stape Parish Council, with concerns about the kind of waste to be used.

Mr Buchanan said Bioflame had just signed a contract with Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, to build the 0.5 mega-watt station at a cost of £1.2m.

He said it would use second grade wood waste - non-hazardous wood from the Ryedale, Scarborough and Hambleton districts, which at the moment is put into landfill sites.

"Old furniture and offcuts, together with forestry thinnings will be taken to the site and used in the generator," said Mr Buchanan, adding that cereal straw, hay and non-food crop waste would also be used. There will be no animal or poultry waste generated on the farm."

Peter and Eileen Allen, who live close to Bioflame's operation at Yatts, fear there will be as many as 240 lorry journeys a year making deliveries of wood for the generator.

They are worried that a wide range of waste could be stored at the farm, causing smells, and about possible noise and smoke.

Mr Buchanan plans to hold a public meeting at Newton village hall to answer questions on the plans. A decision on the proposals is likely to be made in the autumn.