A public inquiry into controversial waste plans, which attracted a record number of objections, ended with praise for anti-incinerator campaigners.

Planning inspector Andrew Newman complimented pressure group Defenders of the Ouse Valley and Estuary (Dove) as he closed the long-running hearing yesterday.

Mr Newman said: "I do appreciate the very great efforts Dove has made to put its case at this inquiry."

He said the hearing, examining waste plans drawn up by Brighton and Hove City Council and East Sussex County Council, had attracted what he believed was the most objections on record.

Dove campaigner Joelle van Tinteren said it would be viewed as a "turning point" if incineration was abandoned in favour of zero waste.

She said incinerators of the type proposed at North Quay, Newhaven, were the opposite of a sustainable solution for dealing with rubbish.

She said no new burners should be built until it was proved emissions did not harm human health and waste planners should opt instead for new technology linked to higher recycling.

She said: "These new technologies are not feared by the public but welcomed by them because they create jobs, save money, restore local industries and integrate into a social system which favours conservation rather than destruction."

The £1 billion waste disposal contract the councils have already signed with Onyx Aurora was dubbed a "25-year monopoly" which would mean business as usual.

The contractor does not want to build an incinerator at Mountfield Mine, near Robertsbridge, the second burner site identified in the waste plans.

Barrister Timothy Howard, representing the councils, said an incinerator would be subject to tough EU regulations and would be cleaner than old-fashioned burners.

He said: "For the plan to exclude incineration by reason of the health risks would run contrary to the position of Government and its advisory committees."

He said zero waste was laudable but not achievable, leaving some rubbish to be landfilled or burned.

The inspector's report is expected to be published in June next year.