The waste disposal plans of Conservative-led Essex County Council are in total confusion after their second Private Finance Initiative bid was rejected by the government. The Conservatives' latest bid, which seems to have been cobbled together overnight without any consultation, is very different to the last one - with no incinerator and plans to send all of Essex's unrecycled waste to Basildon. The government are also examining the Conservatives' decision to go ahead with a waste-processing plant at Rivenhall.

Said Cllr David Kendall, Liberal Democrats waste spokesman: "The Tories have wasted many years putting together two failed bids for funding. The Liberal Democrats believe that this time, effort and cost should have been put into making plans to recycle more of the County's waste. This could have avoided the need for the enormous expensive waste processing plants that the Tories say we need."