Plans to close Eastbourne's rubbish tip are under discussion.

Members of the borough council's Cabinet committee met yesterday to discuss the future of the town's waste management.

One proposal discussed was the possibility of moving the rubbish dump from St Philip's Avenue, Eastbourne.

Council leader Graham Marsden said: "We are pressing the county council to re-evaluate the situation.

"The residents of that area deserve to have it back as a residential area. At best it can be an area with congestion. At worst it can be very dusty and unpleasant."

Former Seaside resident Jane Stace, 25, who now lives in the town centre, said: "One of the reasons I moved further into town was the smell from the tip.

"I lived a little way from it but in the summer there were problems and I didn't think living near it was very healthy."

Councillors agreed in principle to a rubbish recycling facility being built in land off Tutts Barn, as part of the county council's draft waste local plan.

But they insisted rail and road links should be in place before the facility was built.

Coun Marsden said the recycling facility would not be a replacement for the tip.

He said: "We would object to its location unless all the transport infrastructure was put in place before it was built."