WHATEVER the final outcome in the saga of building a waste incinerator in Oxfordshire, one cannot argue that local democracy is dead.

Contractors Viridor will certainly appeal against yesterday’s refusal of planning permission by an Oxfordshire County Council committee for a new waste incinerator plant, as the scheme is worth many millions of pounds.

The firm was chosen by the county’s cabinet last month as presenting the best deal for the authority to build an incinerator to deal with non-recycable waste over the next 25 years. Officials have been working on the contract for that.

Yesterday’s planning application was separate to that process, although it was dealt with by the same organisation.

County planning officials recommended permission was given to Viridor to build the plant and that seemed the likely outcome.

Yet 15 councillors scrutinised the application and voted, by a margin of nine to five (with one not voting after declaring an interest), to turn down Viridor because it did not fit with the local plan.

Cynics would have feared for the integrity of this process. Would a planning committee go against its own cabinet’s master plan for a scheme which is the biggest contract in the council’s history.?

The answer was an emphatic and reassuring yes. The council’s and Viridor’s plans are in trouble today, but we can be greatly reassured at the rude health of local democracy.