Waste plan consulation - last chance to comment

Launched by West Sussex County Council and the South Downs National Park Authority, the consultation ends at 5pm on August 13, having been debated and considered by district and borough councils and other stakeholders.

Dozens of responses have already been received.

West Sussex County Council’s Deputy Leader Lionel Barnard, who is responsible for waste matters, said: “At its heart the consultation and the draft West Sussex Waste Local Plan makes the key point that we produce waste and this waste has to be managed.

“No matter how much we try to reduce the amount of waste we produce, sites are still required at which to sort, transfer, recycle, treat or dispose of the waste.”

The plan predicts the amount of waste that the county will need to manage up to 2031 and sets out possible sites to do this. The council says new sites will be needed and adds that ‘these have been carefully chosen to share the burden across the county whilst protecting communities, the environment, the economy and the special character of West Sussex’.

The allocation of a site does not mean that any particular waste use on that site will automatically be granted planning permission. Specific proposals will be subject to the formal planning application process.

Mr Barnard continued: “We wish to thank everyone for their views, which we will consider after the consultation closes.

“We appreciate that no one wants a waste site near them and we have tried to balance these understandable concerns with our future waste needs.

“Put simply, even with waste reduction strategies we need to properly manage waste and the sites we have selected will help to meet our future waste requirements.”

Tim Slaney, Director of Planning for the South Downs National Park Authority, said: “We’ve worked closely with West Sussex County Council to get the right tools in place to protect the landscape, environment and communities of the National Park. This plan will help to guide major waste developments away from protected landscapes and is rightfully ambitious in its drive to achieve ‘zero waste to landfill by 2031’.”

The proposed sites are:

North of the wastewater treatment works at Ford

Hobbs Barn, near Climping

the fuel depot at Bognor Road, Chichester

Brookhurst Wood, near Warnham

land west of the wastewater treatment works at Goddard Green

Decoy Farm, Worthing

an extension to Brookhurst Wood landfill, near Horsham.

The plan also encourages the provision of new modern methods of dealing with waste to reduce reliance on landfill.

People can respond by August 13 via the online form available at www.westsussex.gov.uk/mwdf, by email to [email protected] or by posting paper forms to:

Strategic Planning (Ref: Waste Local Plan) West Sussex County Council County Hall Chichester

PO19 1RH.

All information is available online at www.westsussex.gov.uk/mwdf and also at libraries, local council offices, including at the South Downs National Park Authority office in Midhurst and Help Points in West Sussex.