A £200,000 fighting fund has been set up by the council, which serves Ongar and North Weald, to find new ways of tackling the problem of rubbish in the district.

The decision to spend the cash, at a special meeting of Epping Forest policy and co-ordinating committee on Monday, comes as the debate hots up over waste disposal in Essex ahead of a six week public inquiry in the autumn.

A county proposal to earmark North Weald Airfield as one of eight sites throughout the county has sparked outrage among villagers and environmental campaigners.

There are fears that an incinerator could be sited there. At the heart of the controversy is the fact that landfill space is running out, leading to an urgent drive for more recycling and composting.

Now Epping Forest plans to expand its present Blue Box scheme to collect a wider range of recyclable waste, boost home composting by providing free, rather than subsidised, composters, and launch a separate doorstep collection of organic material to be composted at a central location.

Cllr Derek Jacobs, of Ongar, told the meeting the expenditure should not be entered into lightly, but the Leca landfill site in High Ongar was coming to an end and it would be costly to transport Epping Forest's rubbish elsewhere.

"We have to work with other councils and the whole of the east of England but what we're doing is 10 years too late. We have a big problem and it's not going to be easy: we need more help from the Government."

Environmental services chief John Gilbert reminded members that the council had joined a consortium of 11 local authorities to resist the county waste plan.

There was strong objection to the airfield being identified as a site and also to an incinerator. The group also opposes a strategy which relies too heavily on incineration.

He said there had been 9,000 objections to the waste plan, of which 540 related to North Weald.

Councillors approved Epping Forest's response to the Government's consultation document, Making Waste Work. They called for industry to reduce packaging and phase out non-recyclable containers, such as plastic bottles.

The lack of markets for recycled waste, the need for more cash for recycling and facilities at stores where people can dispose of packaging were highlighted.

The committee also urged more education on recycling and that incineration should only be a last resort.

Councillors acknowledged that there was potential conflict between the waste plan proposals for North Weald Airfield and Epping Forest's own ambitions for its future.

But they decided: "The council continues to object to the identification of part of the airfield as a site for any major waste disposal facility of a nature or type which will be likely to compromise the future development potential."

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