The Government is using its environment policies to speed up secret plans to make Sussex poorer, senior politicians have claimed.

Taxpayers in Sussex are set to foot a bill of at least £25 million a year from April 2008 via the Government's landfill tax scheme, according to new figures.

But it has been claimed that rather than pumping that money back into vital services in Sussex the cash is being given by the Government directly to councils in the Midlands and North as part of an on-going programme redistributing wealth away from the South East.

With landfill tax set to rise a further £8 to £29 a tonne from April 2008, West Sussex County Council alone is facing a bill of about £10 million next year, with East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council likely to have to find similar amounts.

Gordon Brown increased the rate of landfill tax during April's budget by 33 per cent in a surprise move which caught some cashstrapped councils on the back foot.

In a letter to the Chancellor, councillor Steve Waight, West Sussex's cabinet member for finance, has demanded the tax fund is put back into local services.

He said: "Assurances are needed now that this landfill tax increase will not simply produce another unfunded burden for the county council and our taxpayers to bear. We are, of course, doing all we can to increase recycling and avoid landfill and are making significant progress.

"However, the more of our budget that has to be diverted to pay landfill tax, the more difficult it is to invest in the infrastructure necessary to achieve our recycling objectives.

"My major concern is that there is no guarantee that any of this increase in landfill tax will find its way back to fund local services.

"That is why I have asked Mr Brown to tell us as a matter of urgency exactly how this extra revenue will be recycled, how the Government will ensure no local authority loses out as a result of the increase and how this can be done in a clear and transparent way.

"Based on past experience of Government policies, this extra tax levy will not come back to West Sussex and will be recycled in the Midlands and North West."

Earlier this year The Argus revealed that the two county councils and Brighton and Hove City Council faced major budget cuts or redundancies in a bid to meet the increased landfill tax demands.

It could also have a knock-on effect on council tax rates in the coming years.

Keith Taylor, head of Brighton and Hove's Green group, said: "Naturally, Greens want to see more recycling and reuse instead of landfill and incineration but this increase in tax does very little to encourage that and will be seized on by Labour and Conservative supporters of incineration as a justification for burning waste."