BOTH sides have claimed victory after a High Court hearing in London into a dispute dividing a small community.

Protesters had hoped for an injunction against the operation of an animal incinerator at Charltons, near Guisborough.

The judge, hearing the case last Thursday, did not impose an injunction but obtained a legal undertaking that no carcasses would be burnt in the immediate future.

He will preside over a two-day hearing into the dispute at a date to be set in August.

Permission to build an incinerator at the site of JE Noddings slaughterhouse was granted by the North York Moors National Park Authority this year.

Protesters argued that the authority should have commissioned a report into the environmental impact before reaching a decision.

The dispute has divided the community of Charltons which has fewer than 500 inhabitants. Many support the Noddings family, who have been well respected in the village for generations. However, others say the incinerator would be a blight on the environment.

Andrew Lockley, solicitor for the protesters, said: "This is not an injunction but the effect is the same and it represents a victory for the protesters."

However, Mr Noddings said he was also pleased with the verdict. "I am allowed to complete the construction and no injunction was served against me," he said. "We have not done anything wrong and I look forward to this finally being sorted out in August."

The incinerator lies less than 100 metres from the village and has the capacity to deal with a tonne of animal waste an hour, although it would probably never run at that capacity. The incinerator's chimney is 12 metres high.