PEOPLE power won the day when plans for an incinerator bottom ash (IBA) processing plant at Whitecleave Quarry, Buckfastleigh, were thrown out by Devon County Council's Development Management Committee, on Wednesday.

Voting on the application by MVV Environmental Ltd for the facility in the recycling operation run by Sam Gilpin Demolition Ltd, went to the wire, coming down 6-5 for refusal.

As the vote was announced, after the matter was discussed for more than four hours, there were loud cheers from those who crowded into a committee room in county hall. Others, unable to get in, were in an adjoining room watching via a webcam.