The consultation process being set up by Southern Water to look for a site for a new sewage works (October 22) seems to be missing a vital player.

That is the Sussex Downs Conservation Board (SDCB) or the Countryside Agency on behalf of the new South Downs National Park.

It is very worrying such a process should go ahead without the direct involvement of the SDCB.

It highlights that, to protect our downland, we desperately need a National Park Authority with full planning powers.

Then it would be taken seriously and be involved from the outset in any search for a new site, not just seen as an afterthought or forgotten altogether.

Leaving the SDCB and, I also suspect, the local community out of the discussions will skew the outcome of the search.

Last time, this had disastrous results, leading to a planning application and a public inquiry that could have been avoided and cost local people dear.

All because East Sussex County Council steered Southern Water away from developing a site allocated for industrial development into the Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at Portobello.

If they are not careful, the same thing could happen again.

-Robin Crane, Chairman, South Downs Campaign