Angry residents and councillors are causing a big stink as plans for a new recycling centre in Raynes Park take a step forward.

The potential development on the Rainbow Industrial Estate in Raynes Park has outraged some local people, who claim it will lead to unacceptable traffic levels and pollution.

Their views have been backed by the area’s councillors, who said a new primary school could be built on the Grand Drive site instead.

Last week the estate was included in a shortlist of 36 potential locations for new waste management units being considered by the South London Waste Partnership. The SLWP is a new initiative by local councils in Merton, Sutton, Kingston and Croydon to share resources when managing their residents’ waste.

Raynes Park councillor Rod Scott attacked the decision - and urged residents to reject the option of building a recycling centre on the site when a public consultation on the scheme is launched in the coming weeks.

A spokeswoman for Workspace Glebe, the firm behind the park, said the proposals would “revitalise the Rainbow Industrial Estate by replacing the existing, outdated industrial units with a modern, architect designed building”.

“The Eco Park would take waste from London that would otherwise end up in landfill, and use it to generate energy. This in turn would reduce emissions of methane from landfill, which is a 16 times more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2,” she said.

But West Barnes councillor Gilli-Lewis Lavender said councillors would continue to fight “tooth and nail” alongside residents against the use of the site for large scale waste recycling.

“We believe the Rainbow site is much more suitable for use for a new school to meet the explosion locally in demand for school places for Merton children,” she said.