TAXPAYERS in Cornwall risk being lumbered with a £216 million bill if a contract with the company behind plans for a waste incinerator is terminated, it was claimed yesterday.

That is the figure councillors say it would cost to cancel Cornwall Council's contract with French giant Sita UK – and could lead to an 8 per cent rise in council tax.

The council's Waste Development Advisory Panel (WDAP) voted yesterday to retain the £500 million 30-year contract signed by the former county council's Lib-Dem administration. It allows Sita to handle and dispose of the county's waste, including the building of an incinerator as an alternative to landfill sites.

Councillor Julian German (Ind), panel chairman and executive member for the environment, said: "Terminating the contract would have meant an 8 per cent rise in council tax bills. That would be the cross to bear if the contract is terminated."

But opponents of plans for the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre incinerator at St Dennis, Mid Cornwall, questioned the council's figures, accusing it of over-estimating the cost to suit its own goals.

Pat Blanchard, chairman of St Dennis Incinerator Group, said: "We've had a lot of discussion but we're still no further forward – it's like wading through treacle. I think the £216 million figure is hugely over-estimated.

"The truth is the contract with Sita stinks and we have to go back to basics to find out why a contact which has put Cornwall in a straight-jacket was ever signed in the first place."

Yesterday, the WDAP voted 9-3 in favour of recommending to the council's cabinet that the contract with Sita UK continues. The cabinet is due to meet on February 10 to make the final decision.

In March last year, the former Cornwall County Council refused Sita UK permission to build the incinerator at St Dennis.

The company is appealing against the decision and a public inquiry is scheduled for March.

No option within the terms of the contract exists to separate the question of the incinerator from the rest of the document.

Yesterday's recommendation also included the council telling Sita UK to draw up a "Revised Project Plan" in order to get waste management proposals back on track.

The public gallery was packed with campaigners opposing the building of the incinerator at St Dennis in the Clay Country.

The vote was passed after the panel was given a council report detailing how independent financial consultants, Pricewaterhouse Cooper, estimated that to end the Sita contract, the initial cost would range from £35 million to £50 million.

On top of that figure, it was estimated that annual costs for the 2014-2023 period for disposing of waste using landfill would set the council back £166 million, because of the taxes councils pay for dumping refuse in landfill under EU environmental laws.

The meeting also heard from private waste consultants Fichtner, which analysed seven options to solve the county's waste management problem.

The report concluded that the £117 million incinerator plan was the best as it represented the "best technical, financial and environmental option".

Councillor Dick Cole (Mebyon Kernow), who opposed the recommendation, said he was disappointed by the vote and was sceptical about the £216 million figure.

He added: "I don't accept the figures that are flying around. I believe the figures are flawed. I'm also disappointed by the arguments made and believe that we should be looking at other options."

Sita UK wants to build the incinerator in the centre of Cornwall at St Dennis as an alternative to landfill tips which the Government is phasing out.

As the Sita plans currently stand, an incinerator with a 390ft chimney would be built, capable of dealing with 240,000 tonnes of waste a year. It would be capable of handling all Cornwall's domestic waste and converting it into electricity and heat to power 21,000 homes.

Plans to build the site just hundreds of yards from the village of St Dennis have sparked fears the community would be blighted for years to come. Campaigners are calling for an increase in recycling and cleaner technological solutions to combat the landfill problem instead.

Mrs Blanchard said: "We have to look at better alternatives than what's on the table at the moment. It's too important for the people of Cornwall to get wrong."

After the meeting, David Buckle, Sita UK's project director, said: "The recommendation of the WDAP is a positive development for the county as a whole.

"The panel has spent considerable time investigating a range of waste issues and potential alternatives to energy from waste.

"Ultimately, however, their recommendation is to continue with the existing contract, including development of the CERC (incinerator).

"This, along with Fichtner's findings, is recognition that a single energy from waste plant represents the best available option for Cornwall to avoid a looming waste crisis."