Cemetery to expand to within yards of landfill site

Protesters have reacted angrily at the prospect of the currently peaceful site being disrupted by heavy machinery, noise and smells.

The current site, off St Mary's Lane, will reach capacity within three years, forcing Rother District Council (RDC) to renew permission to expand west towards Ashdown Brickworks. RDC planning officers recognised landfill could "detract from the tranquillity of the cemetery", but their report says this could be fixed by planting trees and shrubs between the two.

Nick Hollington, chair of Bexhill Against Landfill and Incineration (BALI), said: "Given the steepness of the cemetery it is inconceivable that any screening could fully hide this monstrous carbuncle on the landscape. Bexhill residents deserve better than to be faced with such horrors at such sensitive often distressing times when they visit their departed loved ones."

Brickworks owners Ibstock, who wanted to use the site to stockpile clay and accelerate landfill, took RDC to the High Court in January 2008 in a failed attempt to stop the council expanding into the area, which has been identified by East Sussex County Council (ESCC), as its preferred site for landfill.

Heather Morrey, who leads history walks around the cemetery on behalf of Bexhill Museum and is a member of a local history group who study the area, said: "When we went up there to work on the walks, we became aware of a most beautiful, quiet place.

"The land that has been bought and will be a few yards away from the possible landfill site is where the new burials will be. They will have nothing like this peace with the machines and the smells the wind blows. I think people might worry about the vermin, too. It's horrific, really."

An ESCC spokesman said: "We are currently investigating the points people have raised during the recent consultation on the Waste and Minerals Core Strategy, the successor to our current Waste Local Plan.

"Once this work is complete we will be able to confirm the next steps of the process, which will include and talking to local people and making further technical assessments."

Bexhill Cemetery's recent expansion brings the burial ground a step closer to neighbouring landfill