Environmental groups and residents living near landfill sites around Calne slammed the presenters of a revised report on the future of waste disposal.

The Wiltshire and Swindon Waste Local Plan is intended to provide guides for waste management in the county for the next ten years, earmarking sites with potential for expansion.

But people at the public consultation meeting in Calne Town Hall said the report did not answer any questions about the future of landfill sites in Compton Bassett and Sands Farm, near Calne.

Nick Boyd, the chairman of the residential pressure group the Friends Of Compton and Surround said: "It wasn't a consultation meeting because we couldn't examine any facts.

"It was an utter fudge from start to finish, I've seen children with better organised tea parties, The whole consultation was a nonsense.

"We need some facts before we can have a proper consultation meeting."

Senior planning assistant of the waste local plan Gareth Bennett, said: "We thought the meeting went very well. It was robust but we thought it was also constructive.

"The meeting highlighted people's concerns, some of which we knew and some which weren't aware of, but over all it was very useful for us and hopefully for the people who came along and asked questions."

The landfill sites at Compton Bassett and Sands Farm are the preferred sites for future development, and so is Beversbrook Industrial estate, which the county council said could be used for storing paper and plastics.

But people felt the revised report, which is a joint initiative from Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council, was complicated, vague and did not provide any concrete answers about when or how the sites would be developed in the future.

The most controversial issue was the report's small-scale energy from waste plans. The plan predicts there will be 25,000 tonnes of household waste to be disposed of in 2005.

The plan is to dispose of the waste in small-scale operations by heating, burning or natural decomposition.

But environmental groups and residents said the plan gives no indication of the environmental impact of these operations, the noise pollution from lorries carrying waste and the danger to the roads of an increase in traffic.

Mr Bennett said the report could not answer these questions because it is only intended to provide a framework for waste disposal in Wiltshire.

He said: "We can't give tell people there will never be an incinerator near their house because we have to plan for any eventuality and that includes worse case scenarios."

Wiltshire County Council has invited people to respond to the report by filling in a form and sending it to County Hall before October 21 at 5pm. Forms can be obtained from county hall, district council offices and www.waswaste.org and www.intelligencenetwork.org.uk.