Even we could not have guessed what a shambles Oxfordshire County Council’s plans to deal with the county’s excess waste would turn into.

We criticised its market-led approach to the question, fearing it could lead to the building of two incinerators in the county.

Now we have a situation where both proposed incinerators, in Ardley and Sutton Courtenay, have been refused planning permission by the county’s own planning committee.

It is highly likely that both planning applications will now go to appeal.

The council’s approach could result in many different outcomes, not the least of which is delay in dealing with the excess waste and a consequent cost to the taxpayer.

At best, the people of Oxfordshire will have had no say in how this county’s excess waste is disposed of, nor will they have had the final say in the location of any plant to deal with excess waste.

One cannot help thinking that the county council has failed in its duty to grasp what was always going to be a difficult issue.