A CITY council which admitted using 2,000 tonnes of ash from a controversial incinerator to make allotment footpaths was yesterday fined a total of £25,000.

A court heard that Newcastle City Council was oblivious to the nature of the material it provided gardeners to make cinder paths, which should have been buried in landfill sites.

The company which operated the Byker Incinerator plant, Contract Heat and Power, based in Cambridgeshire, was fined £5,000 for not warning the council of the nature of the ash.

Yesterday at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Esmond Faulks ruled that although toxic chemicals were present in the ash spread on six allotment sites across the city, there had been no risk to human health.

Two independent inquiries found there was no risk to health, the court heard.

Judge Faulks accepted that neither defendant, both of which pleaded guilty at a previous hearing before city magistrates, had profited from the offences.

Tim Roberts, prosecuting, said: "No warning was given to any of the allotment holders as to the composition of the material. As far as the city council is concerned, they appear to be oblivious to the harmful elements in the ash, treating it as any other boilerhouse ash."

At an earlier hearing before city magistrates, the council admitted two breaches of the environmental protection legislation between 1995 and 1998.

It asked for 11 other offences to be considered.

Frances Patterson, for the council, told the court the local authority had made great efforts to rectify the problem and had already spent more than £577,000 on the clean-up operation and compensation.

She said it had done it as a responsible public body seeking to restore public confidence.

After the case, Val Barton, of the Campaign Against the Incineration of Refuse, said: "The only safe way to deal with domestic waste is by separating it at our doorsteps to avoid the contamination that produces the end product.

"The fines were not large, which I am relieved about, because it is our money."

Environment Agency Northumbria area manager, Graeme Warren, said: "The court has imposed a sentence which sends a message to others about the importance of complying with legislation which governs waste disposal and the duty of care.