AN INDEPENDENT panel of experts is to be set up by Kent County Council to investigate the proposed SWERF waste recycling facility at Canterbury.

It will question concerned groups and some formal consultees about planning issues and report its findings to KCC's planning applications' committee.

The panel is likely to be drawn from a group including an independent chairman, an experienced waste planner from another county and senior KCC officers who are not involved in processing this application.

Evidence will be taken from a range of bodies including action groups, like Notoxity and REACT, parish councils, the local MP, the Environment Agency and the applicant, Brett.

People will be able to see the evidence in advance on the KCC website, www.kent.gov.uk, before the technical panel meeting, expected to be held on Thursday, July 10, at County Hall, Maidstone, which will be open to the public.

A report on the panel's findings will then be made available and added to the officer's report to the committee. There will still be the opportunity for a limited number of individuals to speak to the committee before it takes its decision.

Committee chairman John London said: "This is an unusual step which the planning application committee has never taken before. However, SWERF has raised issues of a complex technical nature. Members have decided a technical panel is the right way to investigate and advise the committee."