A CITY MP has demanded more detail from Plymouth City Council over the proposed Ernesettle waste incinerator, describing it as like getting "blood from a stone".

Plymouth Devonport Labour MP Alison Seabeck made the comments at a packed and heated public meeting at Parkway Social Club in Ernesettle in front of 300 concerned residents.

"How are we supposed to take a view if the data we are being given is so variable?" Mrs Seabeck said. "We need answers from Plymouth City Council. The council is being schizophrenic about this issue. They are against development on sports land but they are suggesting building an incinerator on this area. I have genuine concerns about this proposal."

Plymouth is part of a £1.5billion, 30-year energy from waste (EfW) partnership with Torbay Council and Devon County Council.

Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has awarded £95million to the partnership, which is now searching for a private contractor to build the EfW plant.

An inquiry last year accepted that two sites in the city were suitable for handling waste: land owned by the council at Ernesettle, and the old Imerys china clay works at Coypool. The partnership has also identified two other possible sites near the A38 at Lee Mill and Wrangaton.

Last week the MoD also said it wanted to build an incinerator in the dockyard – although the city council quickly ruled this out, saying it was not part of their 'planning process'.

The site in Ernesettle is off Ernesettle Lane and is owned by Plymouth City Council. If built it would mean the loss of sports pitches which are used for football and rugby.

During Saturday's meeting, Mrs Seabeck also delivered a stern message to Plymouth City Council and urged people to sign the Stop the Incinerator Fouling Land at Ernesettle (STIFLE) petition against the plans stating she would present it to the House of Commons.

Colin Breed, South East Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP, also attended the meeting and raised concerns. He said: "It is absolutely extraordinary that this site is even being considered. I am saddened to even be here talking about it. This is a long term potentially disastrous development – especially for the environment. It will affect people on both sides of the Tamar.

"It is great to have some cross-party agreement and I will support Alison 100 per cent."

Ernesettle residents also voiced their anger at the plans.

Stuart Lane, who is also a lecturer at the University of Plymouth, said: "I am very concerned about this particularly beautiful site. It is an unfavourable development."

Young mother Karen Garratt said it would be a "complete disaster" if the incinerator was built.

"I am upset for all sorts of reasons," Karen said. There would be traffic problems and health issues to name just two. You also have to look at the loss of sports facilities. It would be a complete disaster for the area."

Mark Turner, city council officer and project director for the South West Devon Waste Partnership, which the authority is part of, admitted that better consultation was needed. "We do need the opportunity for more discussion points," he said. "I don't think we have spoken to Alison in detail. We need to get a more sensible dialogue going.

"We need to sit down with councillors and MPs. We have no secrets but we are moving into a commercially sensitive time when certain things cannot be disclosed."

He added: "I'm not sure the communications channels are working correctly.

"We are not looking to hide from anything and we do understand the concerns. There is genuinely no 'done deal'. Something else could come forward which has not yet been considered."

Until the new incinerator plant is built, Plymouth's rubbish will be taken to Lean Quarry near Liskeard, after the city's landfill site was closed last year. The new plant will handle south west Devon's waste for the next 30 years.