Campaigners are celebrating after politicians rejected plans to extend the size and lifespan of a landfill dump.

Lidsey Landfill had wanted to extend its dump, on the A29 two miles north of Bognor Regis, and keep it open until 2016.

West Sussex county councillors threw out the plan saying there was enough space at existing landfill sites to deal with the county's waste until 2009.

The site, which is near Aldingbourne County Primary School in Westergate, will be returned to farmland when it stops receiving waste deliveries next year.

School governor Ren Kitchener said: "People are euphoric about the decision. We have had the landfill site here for far too long.

"It means the traffic noise should lessen and there will be fewer lorries going past the school."

He said the closure would make a big difference to the quality of life in the village and lead to a rise in house prices.

Arun district councillor Tony Dixon said the dump was well run but had already been given an extension in 1994 and should not be given another one.

He said: "People have lived near the landfill for 18 years now. They get about 1,000 lorry movements a day and there have been problems with rats and flies."

The council is looking to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites by getting 45 per cent of household waste recycled by 2015.

Recycling depots at Littlehampton, Chichester, Crawley and Bognor Regis are being upgraded and a new one is being built at Billingshurst.

The county is advertising for a company to sign a 30-year contract to get rid of the remaining 55 per cent of the waste, about 300,000 tonnes every year, starting in 2007.

It has ruled out using incinerators until 2015.