A campaigner who has waged a four-year battle to stop an incinerator being built has been formally thanked.

Joelle van Tinteren and fellow members of the pressure group Defenders of the Ouse Valley and Estuary (DOVE) were presented with a plaque by Seaford Town Council.

Mrs van Tinteren said: "It was nice for me to receive it on everybody's behalf.

"It was the council's way of expressing its appreciation for the work we have all done in the past four years and it is very much appreciated."

Seaford mayor Jon Freeman said Mrs van Tinteren had helped mobilise local people and DOVE had made a strong case against building an incinerator at North Quay, Newhaven.

He said: "She has been great and this presentation recognised all the hard work she has done."

Hundreds of people from Seaford objected to the Newhaven burner, along with thousands from elsewhere in the Ouse valley.

DOVE was praised by a planning inspector at the end of a public inquiry into the plans drawn up by East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council.

The group has been at the forefront of opposition to the incinerator and is one of the leading groups campaigning for zero waste in the UK.

Seaford Town Council has signed the Zero Waste Charter and the Liberal Democrats became the first mainstream party to adopt zero waste earlier this autumn.