RURAL residents fighting to stop the creation of a new waste recycling facility on their doorstep have won a major victory.

Despite recommendation for approval by planners, Hampshire County Council's regulatory

committee rejected a proposal to relocate a waste transfer station on farmland in Sway, near Lymington.

But struggles over continued use of the existing transfer facility on nearby land off Pitmore Lane look set to continue, with an appeal by site owners George Farwell Ltd and enforcement action by the council both in the offing.

The new application would have moved the facility to vacant land at the adjacent Ambervale Farm, updating it by creating a processing plant handling up to 22,000 tonnes of waste each year, most of which would be recycled.

County planners, while admitting "the perfect site for construction recycling was unlikely to be found", argued that the benefits to the local economy could not be ignored, and were happy that the local road network could cope with the extra traffic.

But locals claimed the project would cause serious damage to the landscape and create traffic dangers.

A council spokeswoman said: "Committee members rejected the plan on the grounds of its impact on the highway network, both in terms of volume of traffic and the environmental effects."

Action over the on-going use of the existing station, suspended while the new application was heard, could now recommence.