Pebsham waste transfer station would '˜impede' park's plans

East Sussex County Council is looking to install tanks to temporarily store leachate produced from the county’s landfill sites on the former household waste recycling site off Freshfields.

A planning application for the facility was approved by the county council’s planning committee last Wednesday (February 8), despite objections from both Rother District Council and the Combe Valley Countryside Park.

Angharad Davies, who is a district and county councillor but was speaking as chair of the countryside park’s board of directors, said: “Obviously the board of directors have plans for the park which would obviously be seriously impeded by the application.

“These 600 hectares of green space which we want to to make into this countryside facility is not an easy task because we have to cope and mitigate against the Pebsham waste site.”

She explained that once fully restored the former landfill site was planned as a vantage point to view the rest of the countryside park, while the application site was earmarked as a possible car park or somewhere they might relocate their visitors’ centre.

Meanwhile the pipeline would go through where they had plans for a sports village.

However councillors voted unanimously to approve the application.

Godfrey Daniel, chairman of the planning committee, said: “It’s not going to make a significant difference to the size of the park and its aspirations. We would obviously wish that well but putting waste facilities together so the leachate can actually get treated has got to make eminent sense.”

Officers explained how currently tankers were having to take leachate straight from the separate landfill sites to wastewater treatment plants in Kent.

The new facility would save the county council money and reduce the number of miles the lorries have to travel.

Kathryn Field felt Rother’s objection had ‘a lot of holes in it’, as the tankers would not be stand alone but next to other waste management facilities.

Barry Taylor added: “It’s tucked away, it’s definitely need and I’m very supportive.”

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