A TEN-year battle over a £1.4bn waste scheme involving an incinerator the size of Wembley Stadium has ended with councillors approving the plan.

An extraordinary meeting of North Yorkshire County Council saw a group of 38 members approve its 25-year plan with AmeyCespa and City of York Council to create electricity by burning household waste at a site beside the A1(M) at Allerton Park, near Knaresborough.

Business leaders, including former Yorkshire Electricity chief executive Sir Graham Hall and ex-Asda commercial director Laurie Boyle, lined up alongside campaign groups and district council leaders to warn the authority it was taking a "huge financial gamble".

After Sir Graham questioned if the council had examined all alternative options, such as transporting its waste to expanding plants at Teesside or John Wade Waste Disposal, in Newton Aycliffe, the authority's waste disposal boss, Councillor Chris Metcalfe said it had only looked at a limited range of proposals.

Further questions, such as how the council could accurately predict the range of factors that led it to conclude the scheme would generate savings in 25 years' time, were met with a series of tirades from Cllr Metcalfe.

Dismissing the business leaders' concerns, he said the council's officers had "debunked the myth that local government officers were inferior to the private sector" with the quality of their work and pointed towards recent events involving Tesco's boardroom.

He also accused Knaresborough and Harrogate MP Andrew Jones, who had challenged the council to reveal the project's financial position, of being poorly informed and launched a personal attack on Harrogate Borough Council leader, Councillor Richard Cooper after the fellow Tory called for the decision to be postponed.

Calls from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England for the authority to consider dumping waste at former quarries to create extra farmland and from parish councils were also dismissed by the authority's leaders.

While Cllr Metcalfe insisted the scheme had been exhaustively examined, Cllr John Clark said the scrutiny had "the rigour of an old lettuce leaf".

The authority's leader, Councillor John Weighell, said his ideal solution would be to site numerous incinerators across the county, in places such as Catterick Garrison, but that would cost twice as much.

Work to build the plant, which has previously received planning permission, is expected to get under way in the coming months.