Protesters built a fake incinerator, pictured, in the middle of Bradford city centre to urge councillors to stick with a decision ruling out building new furnaces for the disposal of household waste.

Members of Action for a Sustainable Bradford, an off-shoot of Greenpeace, also collected 500 signatures urging members of the Council's executive committee to consider more environmentally friendly methods.

At an earlier meeting committee members had already voted to rule out the future use of incinerators but campaigners feared the decision would be overturned after it was called into question by the scrutiny committee.

Its members felt councillors had not been given sufficient information on the issues involved.

But yesterday members of the committee voted to stand by their original decision.

After the meeting Tim Gunhouse, a spokesman for the protesters, said: "We are very pleased with the decision.

"It means incineration is no longer an option in dealing with Bradford's waste and council officers will have to find alternative methods such as recycling and composting."

Councillor Anne Hawkes-worth, executive member for the environment, said: "The right decision was made again."