Tories send £8m up in smoke

11.22.43am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 10th Sep 2007

Lib Dems have been campaigning for years to stop the Newhaven incinerator.

The controversial incinerator planned for Newhaven has just become even more controversial after the discovery by Lewes Liberal Democrats that the County Council is planning to spend £8.2 million of council tax money on buying the land.

A secret memo from a source in Brighton - leaked to local MP Norman Baker - says the Conservative-controlled East Sussex County Council has agreed to pay £8.2 million for the proposed incinerator site at North Quay.

Seaford Lib Dem County Councillor Jon Freeman said: "This is an outrage! The incinerator idea is massively unpopular, the County Council has been pressing ahead in the face of widespread opposition and reasoned arguments, and now it adds insult to injury by spending the kind of money on buying the site that could be much better used on social services threatened by cut-backs.

"£8 million could help keep the Homefield Place and Newhaven Downs up and running, as well as saving the Dial-a-Ride service from cutbacks and improving youth facilities, for example saving the Elm Court Youth Centre from closure."

With the Beddingham landfill site due to close sometime next year, the Lib Dems are well aware of the need to find alternative ways of disposing of rubbish. Newhaven Councillor, Pat Ost, added: "This is why the Lib Dem-run District Council has been pressuring the Tory-run County Council to allow us to increase the amount we collect for recycling, yet all we get are limits on what we can recycle. For the County Council to cap our recycling efforts while at the same time paying silly money for an incinerator that no-one wants is an insult to responsible public opinion.

"If it's costing £8 million just to lease the land; how much is it going to cost us all to run it? We keep asking how much the burner will cost to run, but the County Council won't tell us. What are they hiding?!"