A CONTROVERSIAL scheme to build a permanent recycling plant at Ridge has been thrown in the garbage bin.

Hampshire's regulatory committee went against the officers' recommendation and blocked Raymond Brown Construction Ltd's plans to set up the plant at Ridge Quarry. Members voted 12-6 to refuse the application to build a unit to recyle builders' waste.

North Baddesley division member, Alan Dowden, led the fight against the plan. He told The Advertiser: "There has been a temporary permission for gravel at the site since 1984 and it finally expires next year, when the site must be returned to agricultural use. It would be very damaging to support a recycling centre. The site is not within a permanent or existing industrial complex or on land permitted or allocated for industrial development."

He added: "This is good news for Romsey residents and people living in the area as a whole worried about lorry movements."

Former Euro MP Roy Perry, who lives at West Wellow, and his daughter Councillor Caroline Nokes (Romsey's Conservative parliamentary candidate) both objected to the scheme. Caroline told the committee that residents did not want to see the recycling plant.

Romsey Extra Parish Council objected to the scheme and a number residents turned up at the meeting to protest at the proposal.

Had the application been approved it would have led to the retention of a concrete batching plant and lorries bringing aggregate, compost and demolition waste onto the site.