A bid to bring a £7m incinerator and waste plant to Beddington on the doorstep of a nature reserve has fuelled fears the area is becoming the rubbish dump capital of South London.

The 23m chimney incinerator proposed by Beddington Heat and Power would burn 30,000 tonnes of commercial wood.

The site is metres from Beddington Farmlands, which environmentalists want to become London’s biggest urban nature reserve.

Sutton Green Party feared the wood could be contaminated with chemicals which, when burnt, would release dangerous gases including sulphur dioxide, mercury, lead and hydrogen sulphide.

The bid comes as waste giant Viridor proposes to build a plant to dispose of 30,000 tonnes of food waste a year from Sutton, Croydon, Kingston and Merton.

Both plans compound existing concerns over plans by South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) which could see Beddington Lane process millions of tonnes of rubbish from four London boroughs.

All sites are near to Viridor’s existing landfill, which deals with 37,000 tonnes of domestic and commercial waste per year.

Opposition spokesman on planning, Councillor Tony Shields, said the area already had its “share of nasty developments” and Green Party parliamentary candidate for Carshalton and Wallington George Dow has called the incinerator bids “deeply worrying”.

Campaigners fear an incinerator will dangerously impact air quality and residents’ health.

They have been further incensed by Beddington Heat and Power’s agent Bioflame boasting on its website that it delivers the “black art” of planning permission.

Green parliamentary candidate for Carshalton and Wallington George Dow said: “I’m concerned about the scale of the proposal, it’s too big.

“The incinerator will also give out potentially dangerous toxic omissions.”

MP Tom Brake said he was concerned Bioflame had not consulted anyone before putting in their application and would request a meeting with their managing director.

He said: “I would have expected a company like Bioflame to understand that talking to people is the right way forward, not springing surprises on people.

“I have very significant concerns about what they are proposing to do, particularly if there’s any prospect they’ll burn wood which is contaminated.”

Peter Alfrey of Beddington Farm Bird Group said: “The gasification plant [incinerator] is right on the border of the farmlands and there’s an area of wetland about 10m away.

"There’ll definitely be a disturbance to wildlife in that area.

“The food waste plant would take up an area of the farmlands so any birds nesting in that area would be forced away.”

Opposition spokesman on planning Councillor Tony Shields said: “The incinerator is the biggest development Sutton has ever known and it’s going to have the biggest impact.

“Beddington Lane has already got its share of nasty developments. Isn’t it time someone did something about the smell?”

Bioflame did not respond to Sutton Guardian before deadline.

A Sutton Council spokesman said: “We are currently sending notification letters to nearby residents in Sutton.

“No date has been set for this application to go before our development control committee.”

• The SWLP facility could take 5m tonnes of rubbish from Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton – enough to fill the Wembley stadium five times.

• It would deal with radioactive, clinical and sludge waste.

• Possible SWLP Beddington locations include land to the north of Jessop’s Way, the former gravel extraction works sites at Beddington Farmlands, an area of open land adjacent to Beddington Lane and several sites within Beddington Industrial Area.

• Beddington Lane is already home to several waste facilities including a landfill site at the Farmlands, Severnside Recycling and Beddington Sewage Treatment Works and Viridor’s existing Beddington Lane facilities include the landfill site and a recycling centre.

• Viridor’s bid for a food waste plant would be run by anaerobic digestion which uses microorganisms to break down biode-gradable material in the absence of oxygen and is widely used as a renewable energy source because the process produces a methane and carbon dioxide suitable for energy production.