I attended the meeting on September 28 where the councillors of East Sussex County Council debated proposed amendments to the Waste Local Plan. One important statement made at that meeting seems to have escaped any publicity so far.

In response to a written question from a member of the public, asking for the council to make known the documentation which backed claims that waste incineration was not a threat to public health, Councillor Anthony Reid replied to the effect that he and his fellow councillors had no knowledge of any such documentation.

Coun Reid further explained that not until a company applied for planning permission to build an Energy From Waste plant (incinerator) would the council seek proof there was no danger to public health.

The Waste Local Plan has been jointly prepared by the councils for East Sussex and the City of Brighton and Hove. Perhaps some Brighton and Hove councillors could tell us on what basis they consider incinerators to be no threat to the health of their constituents? After all, there will probably be an incinerator on both sides of the city at Shoreham and Newhaven, so Brighton and Hove will get the fallout whichever way the wind blows.

-Mr R Lambert, Avis Road, Newhaven