About a third of Kent's rubbish will be dealt with at the incinerator

The plant is due to be built on the outskirts of Maidstone and will deal with about a third of the county's rubbish.

Planning permission was granted for the plant a year and eight months ago and the site was cleared, tested and levelled.

But before building could start a permit to operate had to be granted from the Environment Agency which was finally given on Friday.

'Noxious dust'

Residents near the site at Allington had campaigned against the incinerator being built.

Dr Malcolm Robertson, from Maidstone Borough Council, said: "These incinerators have got an appalling record.

"There was one in Dundee that showered Dundee with noxious dust there has been no end of serious emissions from others like the one in south east London.

"They have a very bad record so we have every reason to be worried."

The incinerator is due to be up and running by 2006

But Steve Bruce-Jones, from the Waste Recycling Group, said: "We will be operating here to standards that will be much tighter than have been operated in at previous plants.

"And the incineration directives and so forth tighten up the regulations all the time."

The incinerator will be one of the biggest in the country and will deal with more than 500,000 tons of rubbish a year.

Building the plant is one of the ways the county councils in the South East plan to deal with the problem of land fill sites becoming full up.

Another plant is planned for Newhaven in East Sussex and another one in Kent.

Building work on the plant near Maidstone is due to start later on in the year and it should be up and running by 2006.