THE battle against the proposed incinerator for south Bucks took a surprising turn this week.

A defaced road sign pointed the way to a new landmark in the area - Incinerator village.' The sign, spotted yesterday, is at the roundabout on the A40, approaching Beaconsfield Old Town centre, with a right hand turn onto the A355 toward Amersham.

The sign also points toward Bekonscot model village - but the word model' had been replaced with the word incinerator.' When he discovered the inventive protest against the waste facility, Brian Newman-Smith, managing director Bekonscot, went straight out to put the offending sign right.

Maura Buckland, marketing manager for Bekonscot, said: "It's actually been done with some plastic over fabric, and just stuck over the top of the sign. The MD went out and had a look, and took it off.

"We laughed a bit but really it's serious in that it would lead people to think badly of the model village. We don't want to be associated in any way with the incinerator.

The council are proposing to site a waste burner at Wapseys Wood, in Oxford Road, Gerrards Cross, and Calvert in the north of the county. Springfield Farm in Broad Lane, Beaconsfield, is a reserve site.

Anti-incinerator campaigners presented a 3,000 name petition opposing the move to Buckinghamshire County Council in April.

Chris Schwier, local area coordinator for transport for Chilterns and South Bucks, said: "Were we to catch someone doing it and we could establish a cost, we would pass the matter on to the police.

"We will have the site inspected and put right."