Croydon Council have backed plans to build a controversial incinerator on the edge of the borough.

Members of the council's Strategic Planning Committee voted six to five, in favour of supporting the planning application put forward by developers Viridor.

The contractors have been selected to dispose of rubbish that would be sent to landfill on behalf of the South London Waste Partnership, made up of Croydon Sutton, Merton and Kingston councils.

It intends to do this by building the ERF on the current landfill site in Beddington Lane, Beddington, which borders the boroughs of Croydon Sutton and Merton.

Three acres of the 93 acre site will be used for the incinerator while the rest will be made into a nature reserve.

Concerns about air quality, pollution and the impact on traffic were raised by some committee members at the meeting on Thursday, but members were told the new increased height of the chimney stack from 85m to 95m would decrease emissions.

Committee members were also told the number of lorries accessing the site would decrease from the current 732 lorries a day to 666 lorries once the ERF is built.

Viridor has submitted a planning application to Sutton Council and a decision on the plans will be made by Sutton's development control committee next month.

Anti-incinerator campaigners have stepped their protests ahead of the decision.

Members of the campaign group Stop The Incinerator marched on Viridor's head office in Kent on February 28, and campaigners interrupted a recent meeting of Sutton Council's development control committee with a protest they called the "money shot."