Anger at dumping ground decision

A GOVERNMENT inspector has paved the way for Bexhill to become the dumping ground of East Sussex.

Andrew Newman has backed county council plans for a new landfill site at Ashdown Brickworks and yet more waste facilities at Pebsham.

His bombshell report follows a public inquiry into the county council's Waste Local Plan last year

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He asserted a new landfill site at Ashdown brickworks, Turkey Road, would have no adverse effect on living conditions of local residents. And he saw no good reason why Pebsham should not be have more waste facilities, despite residents living for years in the shadow of a landfill site and the now-closed Reprotech waste-derived fuel plant.

They combined to create the now-infamous 'Pebsham Pong.'

MP Greg Barker called the decision "madness."

Local protest groups have responded angrily.

Mr Newman said plans for a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and Waste Transfer Station (WTS) at Mountfield should be removed from the plan and replaced by Pebsham, which is currently a reserve site.

The news has been met with huge disappointment in the town. Protest group BALI (Bexhill Against Landfill and Incineration) mounted a major campaign ahead of last year's public inquiry, collecting a 5,000-signature petition and employing a planning expert to fight its corner.

Opponents wanted the Ashdown Brickworks landfill proposal removed from the Waste Local Plan.