BOTH sides have claimed victory after a High Court hearing in London into a dispute dividing a small community.

Protestors had hoped for an injunction against an animal incinerator at Charltons, near Guisborough, in east Cleveland.

The judge, hearing the case on Thursday, did not impose an injunction, but obtained a legal undertaking that no carcasses would be burnt in the immediate future.

He will preside over a two-day hearing into the dispute at a date to be set in August.

Permission to build an incinerator at the site of JE Noddings' slaughterhouse was granted by the North York Moors National Park Authority this year.

Protestors argued that the authority should have commissioned a report into the environmental impact of the scheme before reaching a decision.

The dispute has divided the community of Charltons, which has fewer than 500 inhabitants.

Many support the Noddings family. Others, however, say the incinerator would be a blight on the environment.

Andrew Lockley, the solicitor for the objectors, said: "This is not an injunction, but the effect is the same and it represents a victory for the protestors."

However, Mr Noddings said he was also pleased with the verdict. "I am allowed to complete the construction and no injunction was served against me. We have not done anything wrong and I look forward to this finally being sorted out in August."

The incinerator lies less than 100 metres from the village and has the capacity to deal with a tonne of animal waste an hour, although it would probably never run at that capacity. The incinerator's chimney is 12 metres high.