Extending the Portobello sewage treatment works will not create

a major smell over Telscombe Cliffs and Peacehaven, Southern Water boss Stuart Derwent has insisted.

He told the public inquiry into the plans to build the works on a platform jutting out into the sea that modern sewage treatment centres did not smell.

On his fourth day of giving evidence to the inquiry, Mr Derwent said it was unusual to build a large sewage treatment centre at the bottom of cliffs.

But he still maintained extending the works at the site was the best option for upgrading the level of sewage treatment required by new European rules for cleaner seas.

The inquiry has resumed after a week long recess because East Sussex County Council's main barrister, Matthew Horton, QC, had lost his voice. The inquiry is scheduled to last at least into January.

Southern Water is appealing against the county council's refusal to allow it to extend the Portobello works at Telscombe Cliffs in a £60 million upgrade.

Mr Derwent, cross-examined by Mr Horton, said nobody wanted a "smelly sewage works" near their homes or factories.

Mr Horton asked: "So you accept they do smell?"

Mr Derwent: "We do not build smelly sewage works any more, but it is a conception that lingers on."

He said his company did not get complaints about a smell from Portobello, but it

had monitored the air quality.

The Southern Water boss said the planned new plant to treat sewage from the Brighton area would be able to stand up to the strongest gales and seas despite being on a platform at the bottom of cliffs jutting out into the sea.

He said the existing infrastructure, some of which had been in place for 125 years, meant there was a natural gravity flow via sewers to the existing Portobello works.

Sending more sewage for treatment at Shoreham would mean reversing the existing flow and building a new treatment works at Newhaven, which would mean a new pumping system, the tribunal heard.

New works at Shoreham and Newhaven were more expensive than expanding Portobello, which was still the least expensive option.

The inquiry continues.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.