TRIUMPHANT campaigners are toasting the success of "people power" after winning a three-year battle to throw out plans to build a giant waste incinerator in Kidderminster.

Stop Kidderminster Incinerator member Clare Cassidy paid tribute to the public, councillors and SKI colleagues for their work in achieving a "magnificent" victory.

Those inside a packed Kidderminster Town Hall heard the news Wyre Forest had been waiting for when members of Worcestershire County Council planning and regulatory committee rejected the proposal by an 11-2 vote.

The emphatic scale of the decision surprised Miss Cassidy as a 70-page report commissioned by the council and carried out by independent consultants ENTEC recommended councillors approve the scheme.

Plans by operating company Severn Waste Services to locate the £40 million waste-to-energy burner at the British Sugar site off Stourport Road now appear to be in chaos, but the firm has already said an appeal against the decision is likely.

Miss Cassidy vowed to fight any appeal but said it was time to go away and celebrate Monday's victory.

She said: "If an appeal is lodged the same people who have fought this plan from the outset will pull together again to maintain the fight.

"No matter what SWS may say, it still wants to burn 150,000 tonnes of the county's waste a year when a Government select committee report has said planning permission should never be given for an incinerator to burn more than 100,000 tonnes annually."

Wyre Forest MP David Lock, who has long campaigned against the incinerator, said: "I am absolutely delighted, this is excellent news for Wyre Forest.

"I have consistently argued the Stourport Road site was not the right place to locate the plant for reasons including traffic chaos, health and harm to the environment."

The MP added he would seek an urgent meeting with SWS officials to urge them to "respect the importance" of the decision and ask them not to appeal against it.

Mark Simpson, the district's Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate, said: "This is excellent news as it will force SWS to devise an alternative plan which promotes recycling rather than incineration.

"Our party's national policy is a ban on all new incinerators, and everybody must be on their guard to ensure we are ready for the comeback from SWS."

Dr Richard Taylor, Health Concern's prospective parliamentary candidate, hailed the decision as a "splendid example of democracy at work" in reference to the downgrading of Kidderminster Hospital.

He said: "A discussion took place and it became clear our elected representatives had listened to the voice of the people opposing the incinerator.

"The vote to reject the planning application is a resounding affirmation of democracy and makes a timely contrast to the decision to downgrade the hospital that was made by an unelected quango. (Worcestershire Health Authority)."

SWS area director Philip Sherratt said: "I'm very disappointed by all of this and we must go away and take stock of where we are now.

"An appeal is definitely an option, but we may need some weeks to decide on our next step."

Opposition to the incinerator site, which would have attracted an extra 140 vehicles a day including household waste collection vehicles and HGVs, has been widespread since SWS parent company Focsa submitted its plan in 1998.

An 18,000-name petition was put together and 1,089 letters were written against the plan, with none in support.

The strength of public feeling against the incinerator throughout Wyre Forest caused the county council to make history and move the crucial planning meeting from County Hall in Worcester to Kidderminster.

The authority deemed it "rightful" such an important planning debate should be staged at the heart of the community it would affect.