When I read that the application for the Waste Transfer Facility at Hollingdean had been passed by Brighton and Hove City Council's planning committee, I felt like crying.

I confess I came rather late to the Dump the Dump campaign, allowing the first application to pass me by, like many others, in the mistaken belief it was just a materials recycling plant.

I've since discovered recyclables will be only 30 per cent of the overall waste on the site, the remaining 70 per cent being black bag rubbish collected from across the entire city and held here pending incineration in Newhaven.

I also hadn't appreciated the full impact of the proposals on the traffic volume in the area. The consequences of this were brought home to me in all their harsh reality on Sunday when I walked from my home in Wakefield Road, past the vogue gyratory to Hollingdean.

The build-up of traffic that day and ensuing fumes made the air quality so poor that even I, as a healthy adult, could feel it catching in my lungs.

What impact will the passage of 33 heavy duty, 44-tonne lorries each day have on an asthmatic child or elderly resident with respiratory problems? I shudder to think.

Having heard the arguments against the proposal and done my own research, I'm shocked the decision ruled in favour of the dump.

Although I probably shouldn't be, because the chief executive of the council had already voiced his support for the Veolia application before the committee sat.

It was foolish to think the majority of his councillors on the planning committee would vote against him. So much for impartiality.

We have another year before our child starts school and I consider myself fortunate to have this extra time to really think through our options in light of the council's decision. Before Monday's ruling, it would have been an easy choice because Downs View Infants, our local primary school, has a wonderful reputation and many of our daughter's neighbourhood friends already attend.

It is these parents I really feel for. They now have the difficult decision about whether to keep their children at the school and potentially risk their health and education both during the construction and afterwards, or face the disruptive prospect of finding and settling them into a new school.

Quite frankly, when there are children's futures at stake, I don't care if I'm accused of Nimbyism (although we'll all be weeping when our council taxes go up to pay for the ever-increasing carbon taxes).

Hollingdean already houses the City Clean depot and Magpie's Recycling site in Saunders Park so we are doing our bit for the city's environmental services but this new development is just too large for the residential location which has been chosen for it and it is too much to ask of one community.

-Sam Bennett, Brighton