TOWN leaders are preparing to have a ‘fight on their hands’ over a £230,000 a year community fund.

Connah’s Quay town councillors have now been told Parc Adfer waste management plant funding, after a first three years confined specifically to Deeside schemes, could then be opened up to the whole of Flintshire.

They say they had been assured previously that project funding from the project would be for the Deeside Partnership strip only.

Cllr Ian Dunbar told members he had spoken to county council leader Ian Roberts and Cllr Carolyn Thomas, cabinet member for Streetscene and countryside and deputy council leader, who both told him the money would be dedicated to Deeside for the first three years.

Cllr Ron Hill told the monthly council meeting: "There’s a lot of things that need doing in Deeside that will take a lot longer than three years.

"This is unfair. It should be ours until we don’t want it."

Cllr Nathan Jones added: "It’s very disappointing that they have decided to move the posts once the decision has been made.

"I think that’s very unfair and the environmental impact to the Deeside strip will last a lot longer than three years."

Wheelabrator is developing an energy recovery facility on a former steelworks site at the Deeside Industrial Park.

Once construction of the combined heat and power facility is completed in 2019/2020, the facility is expected to produce 19 MW (gross) of electrical power.

The fund was established in recognition of the impact the plant will have on the Deeside community.

The Leader also previously reported that members voted in favour of writing to Flintshire Council chief executive Colin Everett and Parc Adfer management to express their concern.

Cllr Bernie Attridge said they needed to press Flintshire Council to explain the decision in front of the town council.

He said: "I’m absolutely horrified by the response given by the leader of the council and the cabinet member.

"We need now to press the chief executive, we want him, the leader and the cabinet member down here to explain to this town that objected to that burner.

"Yes, we had to have the incinerator but on the understanding that all that money for the people of Deeside putting up with it for the rest of the 25 years, then we want all that money.

"Three years is a cheat."

Cllr Ian Dunbar said: "All I was concerned about in this optimum time, was when it gets going in October, is that funding is a priority in the Deeside strip.

"We have got a fight on our hands. I know we have. They will try anything to use funding elsewhere."

Cllr Alan Roberts said: "We were all against it, the people of Connah’s Quay didn’t want it, but now we’ve got it we’ve got to live with it, not for three years but until it’s done."

The Parc Adfer website reads: "We will accept applications from projects or organisations that will directly benefit the Deeside Partnership area.

"Organisations who are based outside of this area are eligible to apply, as long as they can prove how the award of funding will have a beneficial impact on the communities within the Deeside Partnership area.

"This covers the Flintshire County Council wards of Connah’s Quay, Shotton, Garden City, Queensferry and Aston."

Cllr Andy Dunbobbin said at the meeting: "I’m disappointed because we were all given an assurance.

"This should be for Deeside without a doubt.

"I have taken it upon myself to take a look on the website.

"It says clearly they will accept applicants that will directly benefit Deeside area. We should be sticking to that."

After the meeting former council leader Aaron Shotton said the decision was agreed in 2014 that the funding will be for the Deeside area, from Garden City to Connah’s Quay.

He told the Leader: "It is a significant fund, £230,000 for the 25 years. That would see great benefit for the people in the area.

"I will be engaging with councillors on the cabinet to ensure Deeside remains a priority for the funding for the life of the project."

In 2014 Wheelabrator was selected as preferred bidder to build and operate the facility over the next 25 years as a public-private partnership (PPP) with five county councils in North Wales - Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd and the Isle of Anglesey.

In May 2015 Flintshire Council's planning and development control committee awarded planning consent to the Parc Adfer Energy Recovery Facility.

The facility will be able to process up to 220,000 tons of non-recyclable household waste per year, generating enough electricity to meet the needs of over 30,000 UK homes.

This is waste that would otherwise have been sent to a landfill or been pre-treated and exported to European energy-from-waste plants.

The facility has been named Parc Adfer, to reflect the way in which it will help North Wales recover energy from its non-recyclable waste (Adfer meaning to 'recover' or 'restore' in Welsh).