A company is set to agree a 20-year contract to bring almost one million of tonnes of food waste to a new plant in Halstead.

Essex County Council (ECC) has chosen Material Change Ltd as its preferred bidder to treat and recycle food and garden waste from kerbside collections.

The company has proposed using the anaerobic digestion plant off Colchester Road, Halstead, to carry out the process.

Building work has been taking place on the site, to the north of the Bluebridge Industrial Estate, since last June.

Opponents of the plant believe Halstead will suffer traffic gridlock from lorries accessing the site.

Campaigners, who believe members of the public were not properly consulted on the project before it was approved, are still trying to bring a halt to construction.

But a spokesman for Tamar Energy, which owns the site, says the project is “progressing as scheduled” and construction is due to be finished in May.