NO more public money should be spent on plans for a controversial £1.4 billion waste incinerator in North Yorkshire, UKIP county councillors have said.

North Yorkshire County Council and City of York Council have insisted proposals for the Allerton Waste Recovery Park between York and Knaresborough are not dead despite dropping a legal challenge against the Government’s withdrawal of £65 million in private finance initiative funding for the scheme.

Councillors David Simister and Sam Cross said any money the county council planned to spend on the incinerator should now go towards front-line services instead and have written to the authority’s chief executive Richard Flinton asking him to “draw a line under this sorry saga”.

“The taxpayers of York and North Yorkshire have already shelled out in excess of £7 million on this incinerator that nobody wants, and to spend another penny will be a waste of money and must not happen,” said Coun Simister.