Read the original article on the Bexhill Observer Website
CLAIMS that East Sussex County Council is "actively progressing" Ashdown Brickworks towards a planning stage for landfill have intensified following a Freedom of Information request.
Details of a meeting held last September have emerged, revealing ESCC officers were in discussion with a waste operator and the owners of the Turkey Road site at least five weeks before the official consultation.
Nick Hollington (pictured right), chairman of Bexhill Against Landfill and Incineration (BALI), who made the FOI request of ESCC for all correspondence about the potential use of Ashdown Brickworks as a landfill site, said the document showed a 'dangerously hasty' attitude towards the site which is the only named option in ESCC's waste plan.
He said: 'Why are they having meetings with the site owners and waste contractors even before the consultation begins?
'East Sussex should be in a neutral position. It should not be actively progressing discussions with potential applicants for land disposal while a major policy review is taking place.' ESCC has refused to release all its correspondence about Ashdown Brickworks, claiming to do so would not be in the public interest.
When asked if similar meetings had been held to discuss other possible sites, an ESCC spokesman said the county had entered into correspondence with some landowners, but it was too early to speak with other operators because alterative sites have only been narrowed down to areas of search.
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