New Pebsham fears over incinerator

Onyx Aurora, based in Winchester, Hampshire, is negotiating with East Sussex County Council over waste management at a variety of sites in East Sussex, including Pebsham.

The county council has said that Onyx looks set to win the contract for collecting and disposing rubbish over the next 25 years, for which five companies have competed. It has said that Onyx is top favourite with a detailed plan that generally outshines its competitors, although some areas have "still to be ironed out."

Part of Onyx's plans include what it calls "the provision of energy recovery by incineration" with Pebsham the favoured site for the scheme.

It also says that new technology over the next 25 years may come up with an alternative method to incineration, which it would consider, if suitable, for an energy producing waste scheme at Pebsham.

Onyx has also said Pebsham would be used as a base for rubbish recycling. Waste would be sorted, then taken off the site for processing.

A county council spokesman said: "It is a question of seeing how the amount of waste can be reduced by improvements to collections, plus recycling initiatives; what the volume of waste is and how to dispose of it. New technology may well mean that waste need not be incinerated."

But residents in Pebsham are incensed at the latest threat to their environment. They are already furious because site user Reprotech wants to produce energy from waste pellets and angry at the recent fire at Pebsham when burning waste pellets filled their lungs with fumes.

The Onyx incinerator possibility is viewed as the last straw.

Rother councillor Charles Clark, who lives in Pebsham, said: "Rother council is totally opposed to any scheme for a Pebsham incinerator and so are residents. This area has far too many houses and is not an appropriate site for an incinerator.

"Rother has envisaged the future of Pebsham as a pleasant area to live with a country park and nice amenities. We do not want pollution here. I'm sure residents will organise a petition against this."

Marion Edmunds of the Pebsham Residents Action Group said: "Of course we're all very concerned. We need to find out details of this scheme, then act."

The county council will make a decision on the contract in January. It gives residents three months to protest.