A second controversial waste incinerator could be built in Sussex.

Negotiations are under way for a waste-to-energy plant to be built in West Sussex to tackle the region's mounting waste problem.

West Sussex County Council has announced it wants to award a multi-million pound contract to build and run the facility which would use non-recyclable waste.

No site has yet been identified for the proposed plant but the contract for the facility would be the largest the council has ever agreed.

But last night green campaigners condemned the suggestion that a new incinerator could be needed.

Nick Davies, Friends of the Earth's waste campaigner, said: "It would be very disappointing if West Sussex County Council opts for a new incinerator.

"It's complete madness to start burning our rubbish at a time when we are faced with climate change and should be reducing our carbon emissions."

Caroline Lucas, the Green MEP for the south east, said: "If it turns out to be an incinerator it would be a step backwards for West Sussex County Council.

"It will create a market for waste as these types of contract mean there is a commitment for waste to be sent to it. It will be damaging for the environment and financially damaging for the local authority."

West Sussex hopes to have a new plant up and running by 2015, five years after the unpopular Newhaven incinerator is expected to open.

And it seems certain to provoke opposition from whichever community finds itself closest to the new works.

Several companies are talking with the council in a bid to win the West Sussex contract.

Councillor John de Mierre, the council's cabinet member for strategic planning, announced the proposals as part of West Sussex's corporate plan for the next year.

He said: "We have got two problems that have to be dealt with - running out of landfill and the landfill tax.

"It's going to go up and up and the more we put into landfill, the more we have to pay."

Final details for the plans have yet to be announced and as negotiations are still ongoing, Coun de Mierre said he could not comment further.

He said: "I can't tell you anything about it at the moment and I can't say who the bidders are because of commercial confidentiality.

"The aim is energy generation but I can't tell you what it's going to be."

He admitted officials were looking at a number of options including building an incinerator or a facility for the creation of combustible gas from waste but said it was too early to say where the plant would be built.

Incineration is the most common form of waste-to-energy technology with rubbish burned to heat water into steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.

Other waste-to-energy technologies include gasification, where waste is heated to create gas which can then be used to drive turbines.

Opposition to the proposals could be fierce judging by the reaction in Newhaven and the controversial plans there to build a waste-to-energy incinerator.

Residents and environmental groups have been vehement in their opposition to the £145m plant which is due to be built over the next two years.

The Newhaven incinerator will generate electricity by processing 210,000 tonnes of waste a year from East Sussex and Brighton and Hove.

A leading expert has previously voiced health concerns over the planned 14,000 square metre facility.

Retired GP Dr Dick Van Steenis, who has advised four parliamentary inquiries on pollution and the environment, told The Argus last year that a "fallout zone" would shorten the lives of people living close to Newhaven by up to 12 years.

Several legal challenges have failed to halt the plans for the incinerator at the North Quay site.

A judicial review was lodged earlier this month by Lewes and District Friends of the Earth against the planned incinerator.

The case will question whether East Sussex County Council, which gave waste contractors Veolia the go-ahead to build the burner, took account of recycling targets when it voted on the proposal.

The plans by West Sussex County Council form part of a strategy to deal with landfill space in the area running out next year.

West Sussex produces 460,000 tonnes of landfill waste every year and has been told it must also process 2.6 million tonnes of rubbish from London over the next 20 years.

The council strategy includes a new recycling centre in Ford, which work has already started on, and continuing to develop waste prevention programmes.

Nick Gibb, the MP for Bognor and Littlehampton, said he welcomed the proposal for a plant to burn waste as long as the facility was sited in an appropriate place.

He said: "It must not be near where people live. The idea is good but it should not be anywhere near residential areas.

"It must be sited in a remote area away from people's houses.

"The waste-to-energy and recycling centre are both good ideas, although the recycling centre shouldn't have been placed at Ford.

"It's being built smack in the middle where people live and I was opposed to it.

"Finding a site in West Sussex is very difficult as it is predominantly residential. It needs to be built in an industrial area."

Nick Herbert, the MP for Arundel and South Downs, said: "I think people will welcome alternative ways to deal with waste other than landfill, which is the single biggest threat to quality of life for the local community in my constituency.

"It may well be modern incinerators have far less impact on the environment and local communities than landfill."

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