Here's why protestors blocked the incinerator's gates

Councillors joined members of Extinction Rebellion outside the gates of Javelin Park off the M5, obstructing the entrance, after documents the county council wanted to keep secret revealed the incinerator is costing taxpayers £100m more than expected.

The protest began at 8am when campaigners walked out into the road by the facility - the B4008 - with banners.

Once they stopped outside the gates, police shortly arrived to control the partially blocked traffic.

They made no arrests.

At one point a lorry tried to enter the facility but had to turn around, to the cheers of protestors.

The demonstration followed calls for an inquiry into the incinerator contract from opposition councillors at the council, who have claimed in a letter to the authority’s chief executive that there is a “clear case of misleading the public.”

Last month the council dropped its legal battle to stop a report on the incinerator’s costs getting into the public’s hands and activists have been going through the now released stats.

County councillor Rachel Smith (Green, Minchinhampton) said: “Just before Christmas the county council tried to bury some news by releasing some figures on the incinerator which showed that the costs had gone up by more than £100million. That’s 30 per cent.

“I am completely outraged by this, not least because that contract was renegotiated in secret without proper procurement process, and without the proper competitive tenure that’s required to guarantee a good price for the taxpayer.

“It’s been secret, deceptive and we’re calling for this project to come to an end.”

In response, Mark Hawthorne, the Conservative council’s leader, has continued to stress that the incinerator, due to be fully operational in July, will bring savings to taxpayers.

He added: “Opponents to Javelin Park have no credible alternative, and we are rapidly running out of landfill space.”