BASILDON MPAngela Smith lead a Commons debate tonight about the decision to allow building waste to be brought on to Basildon Golf Course.

The Labour MP is unhappy Basildon Council is allowing developer Jack Barker to reshape the course's contours with 120,000 tonnes of rubble.

During her speech, she told the Commons about the impact of bringing landfill on to the site, just off Clay Hill Lane, Basildon.

She said: "Depending on the size of the lorries, that could be between 8,000 and 12,000 lorry loads of waste over a six-month period.

"Besides the huge amount of traffic thundering through Basildon's streets we have to wonder about other implications.

"I'm trying to visualise what 120,000 cubic metres of waste looks like. We could rebuild Hadrian's Wall and it could go from Basildon to Westminster and back again, and still have some left over."

Before the debate, Mrs Smith told the Echo: "The golf course is a green lung in the centre of Basildon and this will be threatened by the development. The amount of waste which will be dumped is staggering.

"I hope this debate may make the council want to reconsider."

Campaigners, the Friends of Basildon Golf Course, are fighting the decision and have raised £14,000 to fund a full judicial review, which is currently going through.

Lead campaigner Mick Toomer said: "With the facts now out in the open, the Friends of Basildon Golf Course can hold their heads high, while the Conservative councillors behind this discredited scheme should hang theirs in shame".

Billericay Tory MP John Baron, who raised questions about planning approval being granted after being contacted by concerned constituents, told the Echo: "I looked into it after concerns were raised, but could find no evidence of any impropriety.

"The council ticked all the boxes. I also involved Essex County Council as the waste authority and, again, nothing was found to be wrong."

Full report and reaction in Friday's Echo