BUILDING an expanded Portobello sewage treatment works on a huge platform jutting out to sea at Telscombe Cliffs would be "severely detrimental" to the local coastline and downland, warned the Sussex Downs Conservation Board today.

The board's planning officer, Martin Small, gave the warning as the Portobello inquiry resumed after the Christmas and

millennium break.

Mr Small said: "The proposal would significantly detract from the character of a particularly sensitive area of downland being one of only two places where undeveloped downland reaches the sea in

Sussex."

He said the plan to build the upgraded works and sludge treatment centre would be detrimental to the ecology of the area and damage the site.

He said the proposal would generate significant additional vehicle movement which would damage the quality of the site,

designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

He said the board, set up to protect,

conserve and enhance the beauty of the

Sussex Downs, believed Portobello was not the best site for the project.

Mr Small said he had seen 36 of the alternative 44 sites Southern Water had investigated for the proposed works.

Cross examined by Mr Lynal Read, representing Southern Water, Mr Small said the board believed the only other acceptable site was the one at Newhaven east, behind the main arm of Newhaven Harbour.

Mr Small said the planning inspector, Simon Gibbs, should recommend to the

Secretary of State for the Environment that Southern Water's appeal should be

dismissed.

The current planning inquiry is the result of East Sussex County Council's refusal to grant planning

permission to expand the site of the existing Portobello works at Telscombe Cliffs

The inquiry continues.

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