COUNCILLORS voted against cancellation of the contentious Javelin Park incinerator contract at a crucial meeting of Gloucestershire County Council.

Twenty-seven members voted against Labour’s motion to cancel the controversial mass waste burner in an extraordinary meeting held yesterday morning in Shire Hall, Gloucester.

With 24 councillors voting in favour of the cancellation and one abstention, the motion was defeated by just three votes.

Gloucestershire’s Labour Party requested the extraordinary meeting to hold a vote in the hopes of cancelling the contract.

A written request was submitted by five Labour councillors, voicing dismay at Eric Pickles’ decision to grant the development permission.

The meeting, however, which was preceded by an anti-incinerator demonstration outside the building, did not swing in favour of the party. With Labour and Conservatives fairly evenly matched, three UKIP councillors became the deciding voters and all voted against cancellation.

Sue Oppenhiemer is the chairwoman of GlosVAIN, a protest group opposed to mass burn incineration.

She said: "It was just so disappointing to see an issue entirely agreed on party lines and seeing UKIP councillors playing the role of deciders on this and not listening to many thousands of local people."

During the course of the meeting UKIP Cllr Alan Preest made it clear that the three UKIP councillors were not being whipped to vote a particular way.

Prior to the meeting the group issued a statement which said: “As UKIP councillors we pride our-selves on a non-whipped stance.

“No doubt both councillors Guyton and Leppington and myself will vote as we see fit for the good of Gloucestershire.”

Labour Cllr Lesley Williams, however, did not appear convinced.

She said: "I am horrified that UKIP would make up their minds before the debate had ended.

“I did not expect to see them going to bed with the Conservatives quite so quickly."

During the course of the meeting Ms Oppenhiemer presented members with the petition which listed over 7,600 signatures of those opposed to the waste facility.

Stroud District Council recently launched a legal battle challenging the government’s approval of the incinerator

Ms Oppenhiemer said: "We're continuing to pursue access to the information because nobody has seen the contract.

“There's a new bit of government legislation that came out in the autumn called the new Local Government Transparency Code 2014 that says that there's no excuse for councils to hide behind commercial confidentiality on contracts and all the information should be in the public domain so we will pursue that to a hilt.

“We want to get the information out there and show what a bad deal this was for Gloucestershire and also how it's been mismanaged by the administration."

Balfour Beatty, who will develop the incinerator, has said it is "disappointed" with the the district council's legal action but will co-operate fully with the process.