FEARS have been expressed that Hamble might suffer the fall-out from a huge new incinerator being built on the other side of Southampton Water.

Work is already well under way on the burner near Fawley which will help dispose of Britain's 600,000-tonne stockpile of cattle remains.

Waste disposal experts Shanks won a government contract to burn 190,000 tonnes of meat and bonemeal over a 38-month period. The material is waste generated from cattle culled when they were more than 30 months old. When it won the new contract in October 1999, the company gained Environment Agency approval for the new burner but was then told by Hampshire County Council that it needed planning permission.

Shanks felt it already had permitted development rights, but it applied and was given the go-ahead last month.

Hamble Parish Council now says it is "disappointed" that the scheme got the go-ahead without the parish being consulted.

"We were only alerted to this after reading a letter in the Daily Echo. We then contacted Fawley Parish Council to get some details from them," said Hamble parish clerk Kate Cullen.

"Our parish boundary runs along the middle of Southampton Water so we are neighbours, and the prevailing wind is south west."

The Hamble clerk added that Fawley Parish Council had expressed concerns relating to "particulate fall-out" from the burner and Hamble councillors were concerned that particles could be driven across the water to their area.