A herd of alpacas could call a halt to plans for a landfill site.

Proposals for the development at the Laybrook brickworks at Thakeham, near Storrington, have been put on hold because of concerns about its potential impact on a neighbouring alpaca farm.

The Alpaca Stud in Goose Green has more than 600 of the animals, which are bred for their wool.

The stud's owner, John Potts, said birds drawn to the area by the site could attack newborns while extra flies generated by the dump could bury themselves into the animal's wool.

Cory Environmental, which wants to build the site, says concerns about the alpaca were one of the problems holding up the company's planning application and it was working to see what could be done to tackle it.