CAMPAIGNERS have has lost their battle to stop a major sewage project from going ahead.With only three votes against, Suffolk county councillors gave the green light yesterdayto plans for new sewage works at Aldeburgh and Thorpeness and associated pipelines after being told that they would be laid one metre from the existing underground gas pipeline.

CAMPAIGNERS have has lost their battle to stop a major sewage project from going ahead.

With only three votes against, Suffolk county councillors gave the green light yesterdayto plans for new sewage works at Aldeburgh and Thorpeness and associated pipelines after being told that they would be laid one metre from the existing underground gas pipeline.

Councillor Maurice Rose believed that once the work had been completed and the ground restored with vegetation, there would be no visible sign that it was there.

John Goldsmith said any short-term environmental problems would be off-set by the benefits to Aldeburgh.

One councillor opposing the plan, Richard Kemp, said the project would impinge on the important environmental landscape. "If it means more inconvenience to, and extra money has to be spent by, Anglian Water to re-route the pipeline, we should be brave and insist that it is done."

The plans, submitted by Anglian Water, involve installing a five-mile twin pipeline between Aldeburgh and Thorpeness and a host of new pumping and sewage screening facilities.

But residents have voiced anger at the proposals, which could cost up to £5 million, and the town council campaigned against it, even submitting their own alternative proposals.

The pipeline is set to run through a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that includes an RSPB reserve.

The plans include major development at the town's Park Road and Leiston Road sewage stations with new pipelines along an old railway line carrying sewage to Thorpeness and back again after treatment.

Suffolk County Councillors granted planning permission for the scheme, subject to tight controls on matters such as odour, noise and environmental impact.

Aldeburgh town mayor Felicity Bromage last week issued a plea to councillors not to give the go-ahead to the scheme, claiming it would inflict "an environmental disaster" upon Aldeburgh and ruin part of the town's heritage.

Mrs Bromage expressed her disappointment at the decision.

"I'm truly concerned for the environmental impact, I truly am," she said.

"It's a lovely walk and I shall miss it dreadfully when I can't walk it."

She added she was disappointed conservation bodies had not joined them in opposing it.

"I think we did our best. The fact they had a site visit proved we did fight a very good battle," she added.