A WOMAN today

challenged Southern Water to clear up the rubbish which is washed up on a beach near her home.

Christine Carruthers told the Portobello public inquiry she had collected a bag full of litter, including parts of

sanitary towels, on Saltdean sea front.

She said plans by Southern Water to build a sewage treatment and sludge recycling centre at Telscombe Cliffs would make the problem worse.

The company is appealing against East Sussex County Council's refusal to allow it to expand the existing Portobello works.

Mrs Carruthers, of Westfield Avenue South, told the inquiry: "I do not believe the long sea outfall disperses the sewage effluent properly. We often swim into pollution slicks in our bathing area."

She produced the bag and said: "This was our Christmas present from Southern Water."

She added the company only tested water quality at shallow depths while bathers often swam out further.

Mrs Carruthers said that testing was only carried out in summer and not at other times of year, when gales can make the sea

dirtier.

She added: "I have been involved in the fight against Portobello from the very beginning for about two years and have given time and effort because I believe it is the wrong site.

"Our environment must be protected from big companies like Southern Water as they seem to think they can do just what they like."

Jill Jerome, 45, of Bannings Vale, Saltdean, read a poem to the inquiry. She said her 12-year-old son had special needs and used the beach where the plant would be build to collect fossils.

She said: "It's his favourite place in the world and I hate to think of it buried in concrete."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.