A NATIONAL TV programme tonight is set to raise the heat again on the bitter row over Bolton Hospital's new clinical waste incinerator.

Consumer magazine show Watchdog will feature the arguments over whether the controversial new incinerator intruded into an area which did not have planning permission.

Alongside this story the BBC 1 show will also present the case of a Bolton man who was told by planners that his 30ft pigeon loft had to go because it was too big for his back garden.

Bolton Council dropped its opposition to the incinerator at Bolton General Hospital on planning grounds when experts told them they ran the risk of picking up a huge legal bill if they lost. At the time, leading opponent Dennis Watson, of Bolton Friends of the Earth, said: "The decision indicates that the council are prepared to let powerful developers walk all over them and makes a complete mockery of the planning system."

He said today: "I'm glad this argument is getting national coverage - there are very important issues at stake - the public should have every possible input on such an important development but they didn't over the incinerator because of the way the planning issues were handled."

The row over the pigeon loft has also been featured in the Bolton Evening News.

Dominic Lee of Clough Street, Kearsley, was ordered to get rid of his 30ft pigeon loft which residents claimed was big enough to be a bungalow. A Watchdog spokesman said: "The programme will illustrate how the planning regulations have been applied in two different cases and allow viewers to form their own opinion." Researchers have interviewed Bolton's planning chairman Cllr Jack Foster and White Rose Environmental technical manager Doug Everard.

A six month monitoring programme of air pollutants is currently underway at the incinerator, which is operated by White Rose Environmental.

The programme, fronted by Anne Robinson, starts at 7pm.

The investigation also features two planning cases ruled on by Oldham Council.

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