Moves to stop fly-tipping

A meeting was held at Southover House on Monday at which landowners and other interested parties discussed the issue with county and district council officers.

Local residents, angry at not being notified of the meeting, insisted on being allowed in to hear discussions take place. However, a spokesman for the district council this week denied the meeting had been 'secret' and said the public would have been consulted on any clean-up plans at a later date.

Illegal fly-tippers have been targeting an area of Southerham near to the A26 approach road into Lewes. Rubbish and scrap including old sofas, fridges, car tyres and even abandoned cars have been left, blighting the area for months.

Those present at Monday's meeting included representatives from the Environment Agency, Environmental Health and the Highways Agency. Representatives from the Sussex Wildlife Trust and the Firle Estate were also present, as was the owner of the industrial estate. Lewes MP Norman Baker was also at the meeting.

However, eight residents angrily descended on Southover House to ask why they had not been invited. Speaking ahead of the meeting, Peter Burges said: 'We're absolutely furious. We are going along to the meeting to insist on getting in.'

The chairman of the meeting, Ben Hunter, told the residents that the room was too small to allow them all in but he said two of the residents, Angela Snelgar and Tony Harper, could enter.

Mrs Snelgar said: 'It was just as well we were allowed in because we were able to offer a different perspective. A lot of the people at the meeting were completely new to this issue.

Encouraging

'But it was an encouraging meeting. They are genuinely trying to take steps to tackle fly-tipping. In the past we've got excited about things but nothing ever happened. Hopefully something will now. It's disgusting and filthy down there. It's a health hazard, people just can't walk through there.'

A spokesman for Lewes District Council said: 'It wasn't a secret meeting in any way. It was the first, exploratory meeting to see what can be done about this fly-tipping problem.

'An agreement was reached that something has to be done. We will be looking at how land might be blocked off, if there are any rights of way issues and finding out where the money is going to come from.

'The next step is that residents will be consulted and invited to attend if there are any further meetings. This meeting was just normal procedure we had to start the debate somewhere.'