COUNCIL BACKS BURNER

At a meeting in Lewes today (Friday) councillors said that if the Secretary of State, Ruth Kelly, decided not to call in the application for her own decision planning permission should be granted.

A legal agreement with the applicant, Veolia, will be required and there will be 44 conditions on the planning permission to ensure matters such as dust, noise and construction do not have an adverse impact on people.

Ruth Kelly will have 21 days to consider whether she wants to call in the application - which would mean a Public Inquiry would be likely - but she can extend this period.

The facility would generate electricity from household waste collected in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove that is not composted or recycled, diverting it from landfill sites. The electricity would be fed into the distribution network, providing power to the equivalent of 16,500 homes.

Cllr Michael Tunwell, chairman of the planning committee, said: 'The planning committee took great care to consider the comments made in response to consultation on the proposal, as well as the technical assessment of the application. In the end the committee was satisfied that the proposal was acceptable in planning terms.'