A MOTHBALLED plan to build a giant rubbish-burning energy plant in Barnstaple cost more than £500,000, the Journal has discovered.

The project for the energy-from-waste incinerator, part of the Seven Brethren Masterplan, was abandoned in 2009.

The plant would have burned up to 90 per cent of unrecycled household waste in North Devon and Torridge — about 50,000 tonnes a year — and prevented Devon County Council from incurring landfill fines.

In addition, the Deepmoor landfill site will be full soon and rubbish will have to go elsewhere.

Energy would have been used to supply heat and electricity to buildings, including a new North Devon College and a Tesco supermarket.

When the North Devon College plan failed, largely because of bungling by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) quango, the waste burner plan unravelled.

The burner would only have been workable if the college was there to receive one quarter of the plant's energy, the council said.

The Journal has discovered the total cost of the burner plan — which never got beyond the planning stage — was £562,200.

A feasibility study cost £21,100, outline design and public consultation exhibitions cost £115,700, and environmental impact assessment and planning applications cost £425,400.

A council spokesman said: "The costs associated with the project are entirely in line with a feasibility study for a major redevelopment.

"The proposed facility was a critical part of the plans because it could have provided heat for the proposed college, leisure centre and other facilities as well as dealt with waste.

"Unfortunately, in the current economic climate, spending on major infrastructure, such as the college and waste facilities, had to be postponed. This feasibility study will be valid for use in the longer term should financial circumstances change."

The decision to mothball the plan was confirmed in December 2009 when an officer report stated the Barnstaple plan was "a hedge" in case energy-from-waste plants in Exeter and Plymouth were delayed or failed.

The report stated: "It was concluded it was prudent not to progress the planning application and permit for a Barnstaple energy-from-waste proposal at this time, but to maintain it at the current state of readiness with the potential to re-activate it depending upon waste tonnages, newer emerging technologies, and progress on the other projects."

The European Commission landfill directive and UK law sets limits on landfill. Exceeding limits leads to fines of up to £150 per tonne of waste.

To avoid fines, councils can buy "permits" from authorities with excess capacity, which Devon will do in 2011/2012.

Barnstaple town councillor Ricky Knight was the only councillor to oppose the plan, on environmental grounds. Devon Residents Against Incineration (DRAIN), established to protest against the burner, cited safety fears and damage to the environment in its opposition.