Firms hoping to win planning permission for a waste ash processing plant at Whitecleave Quarry, Buckfastleigh, have refuted claims they are trying to exploit a tax loophole.

They have also referred to the Advertising Standards Authority an advertisement which suggested imported nuclear waste might be handled at the site.

Last week, Neil Smith, chairman of the Buckfastleigh Community Forum, said if MVV Environment Devonport Ltd and Sam Gilpin Demolition Ltd buried the ash from a proposed Plymouth incinerator at Whitecleave, landfill tax worth millions of pounds could be avoided.

He said the firms had ensured the material was classified as 'inert'.

Paul Carey, MVV's managing director, said Mr Smith had a 'complete misunderstanding' of the levy and that it wasn't the companies which classified waste.

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