A marathon 11-hour planning meeting resulted in 18 Gloucestershire County councillors voting unanimously to throw out the plans for a new energy-from-waste plant at Javelin Park in Haresfield.

The council signed a deal last September with the Urbaser Balfour Beatty consortium to build and operate the plant which has faced a wave of local opposition.

The meeting heard that the authority had received 4,000 letters of objection and only two in support.

Javier Peiro, a director of Urbaser Balfour Beatty, told the BBC: “We strongly believe there is a need. We believe this is the right solution, the right size, the right location, and supported by so many policies, fundamentally the waste core strategy.”

Councillor Stan Waddington, council champion for the waste project, said: “I am disappointed with today’s decision. The county council is committed to delivering an alternative to landfill and we understand that UBB is reviewing the best way forward.”

Five reasons were given for the rejection, heavily focussing on the visual impact of the structure on the surrounding Severn Vale landscape.