A CITY council is facing unlimited fines after it used ash from an incinerator for allotment footpaths.

Magistrates could have fined Newcastle City Council up to £25,000 yesterday, after it admitted at an earlier hearing two breaches of environmental protection legislation relating to ash from Byker Incinerator plant between 1995 and 1998.

The court was asked to consider a further 11 charges.

Other charges relating to the disposal of waste in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health, were withdrawn by the Environment Agency, at the hearing in August.

Yesterday, the case was referred to the crown court for sentencing. No date has been set for the sentence at Newcastle Crown Court, where fines are unlimited.

The plant operator, Contract Heat and Power, of Cambridgeshire, which had admitted one offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 was also committed to crown court for sentence.

Gosforth Magistrates' chairman Michael Ranson said the case had aggravating factors, including the length of time over which the offences occurred and potential harm to the public, which had led magistrates to commit the cases to crown court.

The ash came from burning compacted pellets of refuse, most of which was used for landfill instead of being incinerated.