Pebsham set to lose its pong

That's the upbeat message from new East Sussex waste firm Onyx South Downs Ltd, who spoke exclusively to the Observer after signing the 1bn, 25-year contract on Tuesday.

Managing director Alastair Pettigrew reassured residents his company has NO interest in developing the Turkey Road site for landfill and has made 'other arrangements' for disposing of waste when current landfill facilities run out in the next 3-5years.

He added Pebsham will only be in line for new waste facilities if the amount of waste being produced increases. The new facility, which will be built in 2012 if necessary, will be on the Reprotech site and will dispose of waste through anaerobic digestion.

Mr Pettigrew said: "The future of the brickworks site is out of our hands and we've certainly not been party to any talks about developing it for landfill.

During the period between the existing landfill sites at Pebsham and Beddingham filling and the new incinerator at Newhaven opening we've made our own arrangements to dispose of waste through incineration and landfill outside the county. We are adequately provisioned and we can live without new landfill sites. Ashdown Brickworks is certainly not central to our thinking."

He also reassured Pebsham, residents: "The landfill is due to close in around 2007 and the contract to supply the Reprotech plant with waste also expires that year.

"It will be 2012 before we build any new Energy from Waste facility there and it will be state of the art. We predict it will deal with about 75,000 tonnes of waste a year which is a major reduction on the 250,000 which goes to Pebsham currently.

"What we plan there is a fairly new technology which produces electricity by starving waste of oxygen in tanks and producing methane gas. There will be no need for the chimney which is currently at Reprotech and the building will be on a similar scale.

"We are convinced of the safety of the facility on health and environmental grounds and convinced it will be a good neighbour to residents in local communities.

"It's a fact that the amount of waste dealt with and the traffic generated will drop considerably."

He said Onyx's plans were not at odds with the Countryside Park scheme, adding: "We have a team of planners liaising closely with the relevant parties to see how we will be involved in the project."

The plans will all be subject to the Public Inquiry into the East Sussex Waste Local Plan, which begins in May. They will then have to be passed by local planning authorities and the Environment Agency.