VILLAGERS have been granted an Appeal Court hearing in their fight to prevent a waste transfer station being operated near to their homes.

Residents of Stainton Grove, near Barnard Castle, also say they will appeal against a decision for retrospective planning permission for a hot load bay at the site.

Members of Durham County Council's planning committee yesterday granted approval to the council contractor, Premier Waste Management, for the bay, which would be used to extinguish fires on refuse collection vehicles.

The chairman of the Stainton Grove Action Group (Stag), Tony Cooke, was upset that the committee did not defer its decision to allow further consultation with fire safety officers.

He said: "I will be appealing against this decision. I've been a refuse contract inspector for 15 years and I've seen five hot load fires, and three of them had flames which were over ten feet high."

Mr Cooke said senior fire officers had expressed concerns to him about the proximity of the hot load bay to the transfer station's perimeter fence and the surrounding wooded area.

But the county council's head of planning, John Sucking, said he was satisfied with the fire safety report.

He said: "We have had a letter saying two officers visited the site and in their opinion it does not present a risk of fire.

"We can put a proposal in to state that any overhanging branches are lopped back."

Stag has been fighting the waste transfer station plan for nearly two years. Although the station has been built, it is not operating.

An appeal against the refusal of a judicial review into the siting of the waste transfer station has now been granted.

An order made by Lord Justice Auld in granting the appeal said: "...the sooner the this matter is considered by the Court of Appeal, the better."

Mr Cooke said yesterday: "Although people are a little disappointed with today's decision, this has just been a skirmish. The battle is still to come. We are delighted that we have now got an appeal, although we always believed we would get one as we know we've got a strong case."