VILLAGERS fighting plans to open Europe's biggest landfill site near their homes were last night celebrating victory after they learned that the application has been withdrawn.

Premier Waste Management, which had been planning the 61-hectare site on farmland between the County Durham villages of Wingate and Wheatley Hill, yesterday confirmed it was withdrawing the application following an objection from the Environment Agency.

The Wingate Grange Farm site -the size of 100 football pitches -is on an aquifer that supplies drinking water to half a million people from Sunderland to Hartlepool and countless towns and villages in between.

Agency spokeswoman Julie Teall said: "We objected to the planning application because the proposed Wingate Grange landfill site is on a major aquifer that is used to supply drinking water.

"Premier Waste Management had not shown in their application that they could fully protect this precious source of water from pollution in the long-term.

"We have not had any information from Premier Waste Management since that could make us change our mind, so we stand by our position."

A spokesman for Premier Waste Management said: "In light of the Environment Agency's recent comments about the Wingate Grange Farm site, the company has decided to withdraw its planning application."

The news was greeted with delight in the villages that would have been most affected had the site been given the go-ahead at June's meeting of Durham County Council's planning committee.

Residents had formed the Wingate Against Refuse group to fight the proposal, which would have led to almost 200 vehicle movements a day in and out of the site.

Campaign group chairman Cliff Walker said: "It very much appears that we have won and it is fabulous news.

"We are delighted that the Environment Agency saw sense and conceded that this application could not go forward. This has brought the village together to fight against the proposal, and we would like to thank every one who has helped."

Dorothy Peacock, of Wheatley Hill Mothers' Club, which joined the campaign, said: "We are delighted. It is people-power which has done this."