RESIDENTS have spoken out over concerns that an incinerator with a chimney more than 300 feet tall could be built on land in Ferndown.

The proposals form part of Dorset County Council’s draft waste plan, which is currently out for public consultation.

A version of the plan published last year included Blunts Farm as a suggested location for a variety of waste management uses.

However, the landowner objected and council planners are now considering a wider area south west of the farm for a waste vehicle depot, a residual waste treatment site, a household recycling facility to serve Wimborne, Ferndown and surrounding areas, or a bulky waste treatment or transfer facility.

If permission is given for a bulky waste treatment facility, which is used to deal with waste that can’t be recycled or composted, it is possible that a building measuring at least eight metres tall and with a chimney that could “exceed 100m” - or 300 feet - could be built.

Around 675 properties lie within 250m of the Blunts Farm, with a further 101,000 homes within a five mile radius.

A burial ground and Stapehill Abbey Gardens are sited 500m to the south, while Cranborne Chase lies less than three miles away to the east.

Bulky waste transfer or treatment facilities are also proposed for the Woolsbridge Industrial Estate near Three Legged Cross and the Mannings Heath area in Poole under the draft plans.

Commenting on Dorset County Council’s consultation portal, Heather Groves, who lives in Wimborne Road West, said: “I regularly walk through this area to access Cannon Hill on the other side of the bypass.

“It’s a quiet, beautiful area that saves those of us living on this side of the woods having to walk around the hideous Canford Bottom Roundabout and up to Colehill to get there.”

Ms Groves said she is concerned about extra traffic and smells “associated with a huge chimney and rubbish rotting”.

She labelled the proposals “complete madness”.

Resident Derek Bradbury said he read the plans with “disbelief and absolute horror”.

“This proposal must not be allowed to become a reality,” he added.

“Apart from the proposed facilities taking away a much valued amenity area, access could only be off the A31 single carriageway Ferndown bypass, a very busy road which is an important access to Wimborne and Dorset generally.

“Wimborne does not deserve to become known as the town just past the waste disposal depot.”

The plan will be adopted in December 2017.

To comment, visit dorsetforyou.com/consultation or call the minerals and waste planning policy team on 01305 228585.

The consultation ends on July 21.