UKIP's three county councillors swung the vote today after they backed the Conservatives not to cancel the existing contract for the £500m incinerator at Javelin Park.

Defending their decision councillor Colin Guyton, councillor Richard Leppington and councillor Alan Preest, who all represent divisions in the Forest of Dean, have issued this statement:

"If we were starting this project today, we would have handled this decision making process very differently and would have insisted upon holding a democratically binding local referendum for all residents within a 10 mile radius of Javelin Park.

"We have all looked into this issue very carefully and have studied the details in great depth. Our decision reflects our careful scrutiny of all the facts.

"We are very clear that cancellation of the contract would cost Gloucestershire County Council taxpayers up to £100million. We believe this would bankrupt our county and would be a catastrophe for all residents, business and our entire community.

"However, we are where we are. We have had to make a responsible decision based upon today's facts, the history of what has happened over many years, and based on the best interests of the people of Gloucestershire.

"As a UKIP team, following our elections in May 2013, we now find ourselves pushed into a corner and in a decision making capacity on a situation that has not been of our making, and one on which we have had no input or control.

"We find ourselves in a very difficult situation with potentially the very future of Gloucestershire at stake. On this issue we have adopted a neutral, un-whipped stance, looking objectively, constructively, with much research, meeting with others, with all the pros and cons closely examined.

"In addition, we strongly object to being forced under an undemocratic European Union Directive, to pay an ever increasing landfill tax.

"Our decision, has been a difficult one, and has been guided by what we believe to be a responsible, pragmatic and rational analysis of the facts and options as they currently stand.

"UKIP Councillors are un-whipped. We are proud of this as it allows us to faithfully represent our local electorates, irrespective of "party line". In some instances, however, this will mean that our local UKIP colleagues may think differently to us on important local issues.

“This plurality is healthy for democracy and enables all UKIP representatives to fully reflect the precise views of their own local constituents."

To date, although UKIP has been keeping its cards close to its chest, there had been reasons to believe that their three councillors could have sided with those opposing the incinerator.

UKIP’s parliamentary candidate for Stroud, Caroline Stephens, the party’s general election candidate for Gloucester, Richard Ford, and UKIP’s MEP for the South West, William Dartmouth, have all publicly declared their opposition to the scheme.

Moreover, in an article entitled ‘How Gloucestershire County Council wastes your money’ on the ‘UKIP in the Forest of Dean’ website, the party highlights its resistance to the Javelin Park incinerator and trumpets its past record of voting against it.

A report of a GCC meeting on the UKIP website reads: “Councillor Alan Preest said that both this project and landfill were expensive and environmentally unsound.

“UKIP were in favour of exploring a Biomass Degradable option which will prove cheaper and better for the environment.”