THE group opposed to a waste incinerator being built between York and Harrogate have vowed to continue their campaign, despite the project gaining the go-ahead from councillors.

On Wednesday, members of North Yorkshire County Council voted 49-19 in favour of awarding a 25-year contract to build and operate the £1.4 billion waste disposal plant at the Allerton Park Quarry to Spanish company AmeyCespa.

Steve Wright, chairman of the North Yorkshire Waste Action Group, said: “This is not the end for NYWAG, not by a long way. We were deeply disappointed by the council’s decision, albeit not surprised.

“This was a political decision all along, with councillors voting along party lines, with one or two notable exceptions.

“It is absolutely not the end, and the next phase will be the planning process.

“The main thing we cannot understand is that we have tried to do the council’s work for them by coming up with a cheaper alternative to what was proposed, which would not tie them in for 25 years.

“They have not listened to us and have just ploughed on with this insane proposal.”

When asked whether protesters would try to force a judicial review of the council’s decision, Mr Wright said: “We have some plans, which I am not going to go into at the moment, but this is certainly not the end of the road.”

Mr Wright presented petitions bearing nearly 10,000 signatures at Wednesday’s council meeting in County Hall, Northallerton, and about 90 members of NYWAG and other protestors chanted and waved signs outside.