Residents, business people and tourists have united to oppose plans for a new landfill site at Washington, near Storrington - one of the most scenic areas of Sussex. The application, by waste management firm Veolia, is due to be decided by West Sussex County Council later this year. John Auckland, chairman of the Chanctonbury Landfill Action Group (Clag), told RACHEL WAREING why plans for the landfill site must not be given the go-ahead.

Each day enough water to supply 27,000 people bubbles up through the floor of Rock Common quarry.

About 4.2 million litres of water is pumped from the bottom of the quarry, which lies 30 metres below the water table.

Though tests show it is of drinking quality standard, it drains into a nearby ditch, from where it flows into the Adur and out to the sea.

One of Chanctonbury Landfill Action Group's (Clag) key concerns is that this potentially useful supply of drinking water could be polluted by toxic fluids if the landfill site goes ahead.

Among those affected would be Rock House Nurseries, which is next to the quarry and draws water from boreholes a few metres from the quarry side to irrigate its crops in the summer months. Nearby Castle Kitchens also draws water from a borehole for use in the production of its allergen-free meals.

Veolia has proposed that the quarry's interior be sealed with a plastic lining - a high-density polyethylene geomembrane.

Clag claims these linings are unreliable and are in fact weak enough to be pierced with a domestic stapler.

Mr Auckland said: "All landfill lining systems have failed. It is not a question of if but when, and our view is that any risk is unacceptable."

He said it was "ludicrous" the water is not being put to better use, saying: "We heard last week that one water company would like to flood a valley near Ringmer because there is not enough water, and here we are a few miles to the west discharging water into a ditch."

The site is overlooked by Washington village to the south and by Chanctonbury Ring, a tree-covered hill fort in a part of the South Downs designated an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Adders, marsh frogs, bats, badgers, peregrine falcons, kingfishers and sand martins have all been spotted in and around the quarry, and Clag believes they could all be disturbed by the change of use.

The owners of Washington Towers camping and caravan site, which adjoins the site and caters for visitors to the South Downs, say they would be forced to close if the quarry becomes a rubbish dump.

Sand has been quarried there for the past 82 years, but now it is nearly empty and the site's owner, the Wiston Estate, is looking for new uses. Four years ago residents welcomed an application to restore the quarry as a lake and nature reserve.

Mr Auckland said: "The idea of having a lake and nature reserve seems a logical and sensible one, and would be a payback for all those years of quarrying we have had to put up with."

But it was not to be. The application was approved, but Wiston Estates decided instead to sign a potentially lucrative agreement with Veolia to use the site for landfill.

If approved, the site would be in use for the next 25 to 30 years, followed by a further decade or so while the site stabilises, and could carry at least 7.3 million cubic metres of waste.

Clag believes the landfill would not only be a blot on the landscape, but would also be a danger to public health.

It points to the link between dioxins released from waste disposal sites and diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and endometriotis.

Respiratory disorders would be inevitable among those living in close proximity to the site, it argues.

Mr Auckland said: "A large number of homes would have to live with the impact of noise, dust and inhalable gases."

Clag is also worried about the fumes and dirt from traffic to the site. Veolia has said that 182 lorries a day would visit the site in the first four years of operation, rising to 204 by 2016.

It says the extra vehicles would exacerbate rush-hour tailbacks at the Washington roundabout and the large, slow-moving lorries and tripper trucks attempting to leave the site on to the A24 would make the road more dangerous.

Opposition has been fierce - more than 600 people wrote letters of objection and twice as many joined Clag when the plans were first submitted to West Sussex County Council in January 2007.

Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert has backed the campaign, and several parish councils have added their support. Significantly, the Environment Agency - one of the statutory consultees for the scheme - has said it objects to the plans because of the risk posed to groundwater.

Veolia is expected to submit revised plans next month, which will then be considered by West Sussex County Council later this year.

Meanwhile, the people of Washington must continue to wait.

Mr Auckland said: "It has been more than a year now and it is grossly unfair to the local community and local businesses to have this threat of a landfill and not know the outcome. We are beginning to feel that West Sussex County Council should get on with looking at the planning application, or else Veolia should withdraw it."

Should the landfill plans be thrown out?