A HIGH Court judge's decision on whether plans for an incinerator on the Croydon/Sutton border will be subject to a full judicial review is expected within the next five weeks.
Judicial review proceedings have been filed by Green Party campaigner, Shasha Khan.
He is challenging Sutton Council's decision to grant planning permission to Viridor to build the £1 billion waste to energy plant on land off Beddington Lane.
Mr Khan and his solicitors, Deighton Pierce Glynn, claim the council has applied wrong planning policies in coming to its approval decision.
The judge has the next five weeks in which to consider Mr Khan's claims and responses to them made by both the council and Viridor.
He will rule on whether the claim is arguable in court and if so grant permission for a full judicial review of the decision.
The council and Viridor have hired two QCs to make their case if it comes to a full review.
Mr Khan would be represented by Justine Thornton, wife of Labour leader, Ed Miliband.
Mr Khan said this week he had been surprised to find himself described in the council response as "a self-confessed serial campaigner".
He said: "They seem to be putting up some big guns against me but this and the fact Sutton has been a bit aggressive about me in its response, makes me think they must be anxious about the quality of our case."
It has cost around £10,000 to get Mr Khan's case to this stage, money which has been largely raised through donations.
A full judicial hearing could put his overall costs to around £35,000.
But Mr Khan said because it has been accepted by both sides this is an environmental case the costs Viridor and the council could claim off him if he loses after a full review is limited to £5,000.
Neither Viridor nor Sutton Council would comment this week while the legal proceedings were under way.
The new plant is supported by the South London Waste Partnership, which comprises Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton Councils.
It would replace the existing landfill site on the land and would burn around 275,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, turning into energy.
