A FARMER'S controversial plan for a composting facility is to be considered by council planning officials this week.

Alan Etherington hopes to gain permission to compost waste at Todhills Farm, Newfield, between Bishop Auckland and Spennymoor.

The plan is for materials including sawdust, chipboard and paper mulch and food processing waste to be deposited into a disused grain shed.

Inside the shed, the windrows, or heaps, would be turned weekly by machine until the compost was ready to be used to fertilise the farm's fields.

At least 60 per cent of the waste brought to the farm would be from industrial and commercial sources in Hexham and from local councils.

Food waste would be from Darlington, Newton Aycliffe and Teesside.

But Sedgefield borough and Spennymoor town councils have objected to the plans after neighbours and councillors raised concerns about the effects on the environment.

Borough and town Councillor Bill Waters is calling for the plans to be rejected until more information is available.

He said people living near the site and the villages of Byers Green and Newfield, already close to a brickworks plant and landfill site, wanted assurances it was not going to harm their amenities.

He said: "We had no alternative but to object to the plans because we have not had answers to our questions about environmental health.

"We want assurances that this scheme would not be harmful to people's health and the local environment.

"In particular, we are concerned about the food by-products and any odours that could be produced or vermin attracted."

Neither neighbouring authority, Wear Valley District Council nor the Environment Agency has objected to the proposal, which will be considered by Durham County Council's planning committee at a meeting in County Hall, Durham City, on Thursday.

Council officers welcomed the scheme for contributing to a national drive to recycle more waste and recommended approval of the plans.

They have advised on conditions to control environmental effects of the scheme, in particular by ensuring odour, noise and dust action plans are in place before development.

Mr Etherington declined to comment.