CAMPAIGNERS against a proposed rubbish tip have called a public meeting to step up their fight.

Waste management company Yorwaste this month submitted plans for a new landfill site in a quarry near Scorton, Richmond, opposite an existing tip due to close in 2003.

But villagers are fighting the proposals and now the Scorton Tip Action Group (STAG) is holding a public meeting to harness opposition.

STAG spokesman Dennis Lee said: "This tip may last for 20 years and the waste stays in the ground for 30 years, that is 50 years of a problem.

"We accept that they have to put it somewhere, but they should treat it and recycle it where it is generated.

"This waste comes from Northallerton, Darlington, Teesside, Thirsk, Ripon and Skipton but just because we have a hole in our back yard why should we have it?"

Two meetings have already produced overwhelming opposition to the tip in the village and now STAG is hoping the public meeting will see the launch of its campaign.

The meeting will see the start of a petition and villagers will be urged to write to their councillors and MPs, in advance of consideration of the scheme by North Yorkshire County Council.

Mr Lee said: "We have had a tip for 30 years and this will be another 50 years for the community to suffer."

He said prevailing winds meant the villagers suffered from smells from the existing tip, and rubbish was frequently blown over the fence on to paths and up to Scorton itself.

Residents were also concerned about the effect of waste materials leaking into the Swale and lorries using the tip creating a potential traffic hazard.

Mr Lee added: "It seems wrong that we're only a tiny village and we're having all North Yorkshire's rubbish."

In a statement, Yorwaste said the current landfill site at Scorton will be filled by 2003 and another site needs to be found locally. The former quarry will take 70,000 tonnes of waste a year for 15 years and once it is full it will be returned to agricultural and recreational use.

The public meeting takes place in Scorton's War Memorial Institute on Tuesday, September 5, at 7.30pm