A bid to build a waste station which sparked one of the biggest protests in Worthing to date will be decided on tomorrow.

It now seems certain that critics of plans to set up the plant on the Meadow Road industrial estate will emerge victorious.

West Sussex county councillors are recommended to reject the plan submitted by FL Gamble and Sons.

The firm wants to create a centre where industrial and commercial waste will be transferred from skip collection vehicles to bulk carriers before being sent to recycling plants or landfill tips.

Worthing Borough Council, East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton, East Worthing Action Group, East Worthing Community Association and the South Broadwater Residents' Association are all lined up against the scheme, a meeting of the county planning committee will be told.

Another 24 people living near the proposed complex have protested individually and two petitions have been signed by more than 1,200 people.

County planning officer John Kilford said: "The objections express a frustration with the amount of heavy traffic, noise, disturbance, congestion and pollution which East Worthing is already subject to."

The committee will be asked to reject the scheme despite a scaled down plan by FL Gamble and Sons, which proposes 30 lorries a day be handled at the centre instead of the 40 originally suggested.

Mr Kilford will tell the committee the increased traffic congestion is one of the main factors behind his recommendation to refuse permission.

He said the scale of the public interest shows "a wider concern" for the environment of East Worthing.

Colin Gregg, chairman of East Worthing Action Group, welcomed the report, which will be discussed tomorrow at County Hall in Chichester.

He said: "We are absolutely delighted county councillors will be asked to underline our opposition to this scheme and hope they will follow the advice of their officials."

Mr Gregg said people living in the area already had serious concerns about the amount of heavy lorries passing homes, schools and nursing homes.

He said: "In the long term we need the East Worthing access road to link the local industrial estates so goods vehicles come directly off the A27 and not through residential areas."