The current tip at Cilgwyn is due to close in 2008

County councillors have voted to use Llwyn Isaf in Clynnog for three to four years as a medium-term solution.

The council needs to find new sites following a decision by the Environment Agency to close Cilgwyn tip in 2008.

Residents who complained that the site is exposed staged a protest outside the council meeting. They said they would fight to change the decision.

Dewi Rowlands, Gwynedd's strategic director for the environment, said the council had to make a decision.

"Unfortunately we all produce waste and we will need a landfill site, that's a certainty," he said.

People have been angered... we won't be giving up Owain Williams, local councillor

Mr Rowlands said the council had a strategy which meant it had to deal with waste from the county within the area.

The closure of Cilgwyn in 2008 and another tip on Anglesey this summer will leave just one, in Harlech.

The Harlech tip can cope only with waste from the south of the county so another site had to be found, said Mr Rowlands.

Residents near Llwyn Isaf said they had been promised that it would be returned to agricultural use after 20 years.

Protesters said they had been plagued by rats in the past

"Enough is enough, we don't want to suffer any more," said Gwyn Jones, chairman of the local community council.

Farmer Ieuan Hughes said he was amazed at the decision.

"This site is very exposed, the rubbish won't be buried here, it will be built up like a mountain," he added.