RESIDENTS have objected to plans to generate energy by burning medical waste including body parts.

MediPower is seeking permission to build an incinerator in Newhaven which will convert 1,200 tonnes of medical waste – including organic matter removed during operations – and turn it into electricity.

The company based at the East Quay of Newhaven port has applied for an environmental permit for the new incinerator, which it says will generate 1.4mw/hour of thermal energy and 250kw/hour of electrical energy which will be used to power the port.

However hundreds of residents have objected to the plans which they say will be an over industrialisation of the town and could cause air pollution.

One resident who wrote to The Argus expressed horror that the plan could handle human body parts as well as medical waste.

He said: “I can’t believe Newhaven is going to burn body parts along with clinical waste and have another incinerator.”

Objecting to MediPower’s application to Lewes District Council, one resident said: “The amount of pollution potentially emitted, the almost certain noise from traffic and the working of the plant, the destructions of habitat and historical land, and the non-accordance to the green plan by Lewes District Council is why this application should be denied.

“Newhaven is not, and should never be a dumping ground for polluting industries no one else wants.”

Another resident said: “There is likely to be a great deal of noise, pollution and disturbance caused by the lorries carrying the waste to the plant.

“It seems wrong to place such a plant right beside part of the South Downs National Park and a poplar sandy beach.”

Another objector said: “We already have severely congested roads and one poisonous waste incinerator and, frankly, we have had enough.”

Medical waste is currently sterilised then sent to landfil.

South East Green MEP Keith Taylor has also expressed concern about the plans, saying the site had not been identified in the East Sussex County Waste and Minerals Plan as a site for an incinerator.

Another resident said: “Newhaven needs proper road infrastructure and a heart to the town with a decent shopping centre for its residents not more polluting industrial businesses.”