THE chairman of a group opposed to plans for a controversial £1.4bn waste disposal plant has vowed its campaign will continue, despite the plans winning approval from councillors.

The Northern Echo reported yesterday how North Yorkshire County Council voted to back plans for the recycling facility, at Allerton Park, Knaresborough.

A 25-year contract for the plant, which will include an incinerator, was awarded to Spanish company AmeyCespa.

Steve Wright, chairman of the North Yorkshire Waste Action Group (NYWAG), which collected 10,000 signatures on a petition against the plans, 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.

“We have already been in talks with a planning consultant and believe there is a very good case (against awarding planning permission).

“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.”

Asked whether protestors 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.

“We are here for the long term.”

About 90 members of NYWAG and other protestors chanted and waved signs outside County Hall, Northallerton, before and after the meeting on Wednesday.

The full council backed the decision to award the contract by 49 votes to 19, with one abstention.

The county council’s decision came a week after City of York councillors, who were jointly responsible for the awarding of the contract for the facility, gave the plans their backing.

It is said the site, which could be operational by 2014, will save taxpayers more than £300m over 25 years by avoiding charges for sending waste to landfill.