According to Southern Water, Brighton and Hove is now the only Sussex seaside resort unable to meet the latest European environmental standards on waste water treatment.
This provokes the question: "Whose fault is that?"
Southern Water have known for decades Europe would demand higher standards. It chose to do nothing until it faced the deadline.
It then assumed it would be easy to expand at Portobello. When it lost the public inquiry, it produced a new short-list of eight sites for its sewage factory, three of which were brownfield sites.
It plumped for Lower Hoddern Farm at Peacehaven, a greenfield site adjacent to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
In 1999, when trying to convince everybody Portobello was the only possible option, Southern Water produced a report which said a sewage factory at Lower Hoddern Farm was, and I quote: "Rejected on the grounds that these proposals would have an unacceptable impact upon the landscape, the countryside and adjoining residential properties."
So what has changed in 2005?
-John Hodgson, Peacehaven
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