Campaigners are celebrating after plans for a controversial waste incinerator in County Durham were thrown out earlier this week.
The news was greeted with joy by local activists, who have spent four years fighting the proposals for a renewable energy centre on land at Hownsgill Industrial Estate, near Delves Lane, in Consett. The plans were lodged by Project Genesis Ltd and rejected by Durham County Council, but an appeal from the developer resulted in a public inquiry last year.
Posters and leaflets by campaign group Say No To Consett Incinerator flooded the town, with houses, shops and businesses joining in the fight to keep the incinerator off part of the site occupied by the former Consett Steel Works, which closed in 1980 with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.
