PROTESTORS pledged to continue their fight after a council gave permission for an incinerator to burn large animal carcasses.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council granted Ted Noddings a licence yesterday to burn farm animals at his knacker's yard at Charltons, near Guisborough.

Objectors had raised concerns about the effect it could have on the health of residents.

John Tombs, who opposed the scheme, said: "The news comes as no surprise to us. Our legal team is ready to take the matter up and I'm very confident that it will get to court - again."

The protestors applied for an injunction to prevent the incinerator being built after the North Yorkshire Moors National Parks Authority granted planning permission for the construction in February.

But the case was withdrawn from the High Court in June after the authority conceded that the decision to give planning permission was defective in law.

Mr Noddings then made a second application this month and the authority granted planning permission again.

Last night, the relieved 54-year-old told how the past 18 months had been hell for him, his wife and his son.

"I don't feel any sense of victory. We have never done anything wrong. We've been persecuted and even had our vehicles damaged.

"We would go out of business without the incinerator, because the 24-month rule dictates we can't make pet food from fallen animals over 24 months. They must be burnt.

"I have no health concerns and will live on the site with my wife."

The council's principal environmental officer, Bob Cowell, said: "For us this was a technical assessment. I look at the process as an industrial operation.

"Controls ensure the emissions are within standards set down by the Government."We will keep monitoring what's going on."