Will new country park back on to a waste incinerator?

Plans for the Park are still in the early stages with the aim to provide major community and visitor facilities for people to enjoy.

At a meeting on Monday, it was decided that an East Sussex County Council officer and councillor would be part of a Management Board to develop ideas for the area.

But with Onyx Aurora tipped to win the waste management contract, a rubbish incinerator being sited at Pebsham sometime in the next 25 years is a possibility.

It would mean residents enjoying the wide-open space with a rubbish burner close by.

A county council spokeswoman confirmed this week that Onyx are the preferred bidder for the 25-year contract.

She said part of the negotiations for waste management at a variety of sites in East Sussex, including Pebsham, could include new technology, which may mean an incinerator.

"The area of the Park which will be developed is very large," she said.

"If in the future a company did want to come and put a waste facility or other convenience amenity there, they would have to apply for planning permission and we would look at how it could be integrated in the Park.

"It would have a small impact."

But St Michael's ward Cllr Charles Clark, who lives in Pebsham, said an incinerator would go completely against the Park plan by producing a great deal of pollution.

He said: "There has been a vision of a countryside park for the past decade and it was always assumed that the waste plant would be closed by 2002.

"But obviously it got extended and now the discussions over the incinerator goes completely against the long-term vision for recreational use.

"With an incinerator, there would be pollution with people enjoying the Countryside Park nearby.

"It goes completely against this."

The Park would be centred on the Landfill site which would act as landscape for the area.

It is thought the Landfill site will be operational until between 2005 and 2007 and money, given to county from Waste Water Treatment Plant developers to compensate for loss of land from the Park, must be spent before 2010.

Nigel Marshall, principal landscape architect for the transport and environment department, said the finalisation of contract negotiations will be taken into account when developing plans for the Park.