Proposals for the multi-million pound dam to hold the tidal Ribble waters at a constant level were kicked out after a fresh storm of protests from residents and experts.

Campaigners at a public meeting on the three-pronged £800m Riverworks project warned the plan would cost millions of pounds a year and turn parts of Lancashire into an ecological disaster zone.

Now Preston Council leader Ken Hudson has told the Evening Post that while the Tories are in charge, the barrage scheme "will not be looked at".

The latest development completes a remarkable U-turn on a scheme first touted as a landmark development for the city.

The news was being hailed as a victory for campaigners who said the idea had never been "properly thought through."

Earlier this month the Evening Post revealed the proposal had been split into three parts – quayside (the Dock), canalside (extending the Lancaster Canal) and riverside (the barrage scheme).

Feasibility studies on quayside and canalside will still go ahead, but Coun Hudson said the riverside study will not.

He said: "As long as this Conservative administration is in control it will not happen.

"The whole of the riverside is totally dependent on South Ribble's vision of the future.

"As far as this administration is concerned, the barrage scheme will not be looked at."

An Evening Post poll earlier this year revealed 74% of readers were against the barrage.

Jane Brunning, of the Save the Ribble campaign, said: "This is absolutely fantastic news and I really think it is because people have made their feelings clear.

"I'm still slightly tentative and want the council to make an official statement but this is the best news I have heard in a long time."

Tim Mitcham, conservation manager for the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, said: "The idea in principle sounds wonderful but the reality of the potential impact on wildlife and flow of sediments meant we felt it had not been thought through well enough."

Preston Council's chief executive Jim Carr was not available for comment.