DEFIANT councillors today refused to back down on their decision to ban the public from a debate on possible sites for waste disposal.

In Chichester this morning, 12 West Sussex county councillors were meeting in private to consider the future of 350 possible sites.

The councillors have sparked fury by refusing to let the Press or public listen to their deliberations.

Speaking outside County Hall, minerals and waste sub-committee chairman Harry Hall insisted he had no choice about keeping the meeting secret.

He said: "I'm not happy about it being kept a secret but we are required to do so."

Principal planning solicitor Susan Pope said there were complex legal reasons for holding the meeting behind closed doors.

She said: "There are two legal requirements.

"Business interest and individuals who have provided information in confidence would be prejudiced if that information was released.

"The other reason is that information has been provided by the Environment Agency on the basis that it be kept confidential, and we have a statutory duty to do that."

Fellow councillor Sydney Little claimed the meeting was being held in private to protect the public.

He said: "I don't think it's fair to scare 200 people when in the end we will only need to discuss perhaps six

people."

But critics say meeting in private will only increase fears about the waste sites.

Labour councillors in Adur - home to a controversial waste station in Halewick Lane, Sompting, one of the sites under discussion - said committee members "hadn't got the guts" to publish the list of sites under consideration.

They said the move would do nothing to reassure residents.

Con Barry Mear, who represents Sompting, said: "I have been fighting Halewick Lane for 13 years and I do not believe a word they say."

Incinerators may be needed to burn rubbish because the county's tips are filling up.

But critics say incinerators will frustrate attempts to recycle more rubbish.

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