A CONTROVERSIAL Incinerator will be built in Oxfordshire after campaigners yesterday lost a last-ditch attempt to halt the plan.

The Incinerator at Ardley, near Bicester, could be operational in three years and would be Oxfordshire’s first.

The campaigners’ £50,000 legal bid to block the incinerator was thrown out by the High Court.

Members of Ardley Against the Incinerator (AAI) last night said they were “gutted”.

The group has been landed with the Government’s £10,000 legal bill.

Local residents and businesses raised thousands to take Secretary of State Eric Pickles to the Appeal Court over his decision to allow waste firm Viridor to build the 300,000 tonne incinerator.

They had asked the London court to quash Mr Pickles’ decision and order the Secretary of State to reconsider.

The group claimed the incinerator was much bigger than needed to meet the county’s needs, would be a rural eyesore and its emissions could damage human and animal health.

They argued the Secretary of State was wrong in law in granting permission to operator Viridor Waste Management.

Deputy Judge Howell QC ruled Mr Pickles was entitled to grant permission and said there were “fundamental defects” in the campaigners’ case.

AAI chairman Jon O’Neill said: “We are gutted. We obviously wanted the best; believed the worst and hoped for the best.

“It was not the decision we wanted, but that’s part of the risk of going to court. We are pleased we were able to get there and were able to push this as far as we could.”

He said the group would now digest the judgement and consider its options.

Mr O’Neill said the £10,000 legal costs had already been lodged with the court.

Oxfordshire County Council, which says the burner is needed to avoid hefty landfill taxes, welcomed the court’s “common sense” decision.

Its cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, said: “We hope that Ardley Against Incineration will now accept this decision and not cause any further unnecessary delay and expense.”

She said it had been a matter of “strong public interest” that the issue was resolved as quickly as possible.

Viridor’s project manager, Robert Ryan, said: “We are pleased with the judgement and look forward to progressing the project.”

In his judgement, Deputy Judge Howell QC said: “The Secretary of State had made a clear finding that, in his view, human health would not be endangered and the environment would not be harmed.

“I appreciate that the claimants disagree strongly with the conclusions the Inspector and the Secretary of State reached about the waste facility in this location.

“But this is not an appeal on the merits. Those conclusions are not impugnable as a matter of law.”

Viridor hopes to open the incinerator in 2014.