EXCLUSIVE: By DAVE TOOMER .A WATER company which jointly owns the firm planning to turn Red Moss into a huge rubbish dump is considering pulling out of the venture. UK Waste, which submitted the landfill plan for the Site of Special Scientific Interest in Horwich, is jointly owned by Wessex Water and refuse disposal giants, Waste Management International. Following pressure from environment watchdogs Friends of the Earth, Wessex Water Chief Executive, Colin Skellet states in a letter to FoE: "I have agreed with our partners in UK Waste that there should be a complete review of the proposals at Red Moss."

The water company says it is discussing the issue with Bolton Council who would run Red Moss Tip in partnership with UK Waste, generating around £2 million a year for council coffers.

Bolton Council's planning officers last month recommended refusal of the plan, but the council was forced to defer a decision when UK Waste submitted fresh information just hours before the Planning Committee meeting.

Wessex Water's review follows intense lobbying from FoE who were spurred by the view of English Nature that the tip plan "would destroy a valuable Site of Special Scientific Interest."

Wessex Water boasts an impressive environmental record with former FoE Director, Jonathan Porritt and botanist, David Bellamy as its advisers.

And it is almost certain that if the outcome of the review is in favour of maintaining the Moss as SSSI, Wessex Water will exert pressure on WMI to force UK Waste to drop its plan.

A spokesman for Wessex Water told the BEN: "It is true that pressure from FoE has brought about Wessex Water taking a more in depth look at the proposals for Red Moss."

But Wessex Water claims that UK Waste has a legal obligation to submit a planning application because of a contract between the waste giants and the council.

And Friends of the Earth, who have demanded details of the contract, says that public money could be saved if the council relieved UK Waste of its legal obligations and allowed it to pull out of the deal.

Bolton FoE campaigner Dennis Watson said: "We are delighted that UK Waste and Wessex Water are rethinking their plans - but this whole affair is cloaked in secrecy.

"The company must withdraw its application and the Council must relieve it of any legal obligations to go ahead with the scheme.

"If Bolton Council rejects the plan there will be a public enquiry which Uk Waste would lose. All that expense could be avoided now."

Mirza Ahmad, Bolton Council's head of legal services, refused to comment on whether the council has the option of relieving UK Waste of a legal obligation to submit a plan.

He said: "It must be stressed that the contract that exists between the Council and UK Waste has no bearing at all on the planning application which will be determined purely on planning grounds."

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