Furiousresidents are fuming over plans to build a 230ft chimney on their doorstep.

Construction giants WH Malcolm submitted proposals to develop a waste incinerator in Scotstoun at the site of its current recycling yard.

The development on South Street will see a chimney taller than the Titan crane put up, forming part of the firm's Energy Recovery Facility.

A range of materials will be 'gasified' on site including office waste, plastic, paper and wood.

Locals are outraged at the plans which they say will have a detrimental impact on their health.

They are worried fumes and toxins sprayed out from the chimney will pose a major health risk not just to local residents but people living across the city.

Planners say air quality issues would be negligible and air pollution would be monitored by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

Residents are also concerned about the increase in the number of lorries travelling up and down South Street to take waste to the plant.

Maisie McCrae, chairwoman of Whiteinch Community Council, claims the stack will be an eyesore and a potential pollution problem for the city.

She said: "The people of Whiteinch feel there is going to be much more traffic, which will bring noise and pollution, and it will be bad for the people living opposite. It's going to be an eyesore too."

Peter Atkins, a community councillor in Scotstoun, lives just metres away from where the new plant will be with his wife Natalie and baby daughter Erin.

The 30-year-old is worried about a constant hum coming from an electricity sub station close to his house, and said: "Malcolms say they will be taking their traffic levels back to what they were before, but that represents a big increase on the lower levels we are seeing now.

"That's more heavy lorries on the road outside my house.

"Chemicals are probably not going to affect me because of this massive chimney but they will be blowing across the whole city.

"What happens when there is a breakdown or a failure of the plant which is supposed to clean up the fumes?

"Burning waste for energy is not a long-term solution - we shouldn't be producing the waste in the first place.

"It does seem a backward step after all the years of improving air quality"

Plans for the development show the level of deadly dioxins affecting people nearby will be miniscule from the new plant.

Projections show in the worst case scenario people will take in 1.5 per cent of the daily tolerable intake of the chemicals, which can lead to cancer, damage the immune system and cause reproductive issues.

Alasdair Wilson, compliance manager at W. H. Malcolm, said: "The site will continue to handle construction waste while also managing residual commercial and industrial waste such as office rubbish.

"The plant will operate in a similar way to the energy from waste facility currently being built at Polmadie to handle domestic waste for Glasgow City Council. We will not be handling food waste and the design of the facility means there will remain no odours from the plant.

"The site is currently licensed to process up to 495,000 tonnes of waste per annum and this will remain unchanged, whilst traffic movements in and out of our facility will remain lower than when the site opened in 2006 and will represent only a 0.55 per cent increase in traffic levels along South Street.

"As attendees at public exhibitions will have seen, the flue is in keeping with the character of the industrial backdrop of this part of the Clydeside and is of a comparable height to other buildings along the river and in the local area."

hannah.rodger@eveningtimes.co.uk