Plans by waste group Viridor to build a facility in Portobello, Edinburgh, to move industrial waste from lorries onto rail before being transferred to landfill, have been thrown out.

Hundreds of residents complained the site would be a 'major blot on the landscape' and had written to Edinburgh City Council to object to the plan being approved.

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Dan Cook, from Viridor, said: "We have been in dialogue with the local community since consultations last year and have taken on board a lot of the points they have made.

"We are proposing this facility to get waste off the road onto rail because it is widely agreed that getting more freight onto the rail rather than our congested roads is good.

"So this development is providing an essential service, it will be good for the city and good for the environment."

Dan Barlow spokesman for environmental group WWF Scotland said it would prefer the company to concentrate on recycling industrial waste rather than taking it to landfill.

Council officers rejected the plans nine votes to three.

(GK/JM)