AN environmental campaign-er who is fighting to stop Lafarge Cement burning tyres at its Westbury works goes to the court of appeal this week.

David Levy, former chairman of the Air That We Breathe group, first brought a case against the Environment Agency in the High Court in May 2002, when he claimed it was not doing enough to minimise dangerous emissions from tyre-burning at the plant.

He claimed his health was suffering as a result, and wanted the Environment Agency to impose tougher emission restrictions on Lafarge cement to clean up the waste that comes out of the chimney at Westbury.

He said the Environment Agency has failed to get Lafarge to install the latest pollution control technology, and had therefore failed to met the requirements of environmental legislation.

But High Court judge, Mr Justice Silber upheld the agency's work on every ground on which it was challenged, and Mr Levy lost the case.

But he has since been granted legal aid and the chance to appeal. The case will be heard on Tuesday.

He said: "This has cost me a fortune, and people think I'm mad to keep campaigning on this but I think we should leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner world."

The Environment Agency gave permission for tyres to be burnt at the Westbury cement works in 2001. Trials carried out at the plant in 1999 showed using tyres rather than coal as fuel would reduce the impact on the environment by 27 per cent, but Mr Levy claimed that although nitrous oxide emissions would fall, raised levels of sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide would more than wipe out that gain.

A spokesman for the agency said: "The decision to authorise tyre burning came after a year long public consultation and an in-depth study of Lafarge's application. The consultation included the Wiltshire Health Authority and some of the country's leading health experts."

Lafarge burns nearly four million tyres each year, replacing 24 per cent of the fossil fuels they would have to use.

Last month, the Wiltshire Times surveyed readers to see whether they thought burning tyres as fuel was having an impact on their health, and 92 per cent of respondents were against the tyre burning.