Six thousand letters objecting to plans to build a waste incinerator were handed to council planners.

Campaigners against the proposal to build the waste burner at North Quay, in Newhaven, handed them to East Sussex County Council in Lewes, on Thursday before the deadline for objections. Members of Friends of the Earth joined campaigners from the Defend the Ouse Valley and Estuary Group (DOVE) to hand in the letters.

The incinerator, called an energy recovery facility, is designed to handle approximately 210,000 tonnes of household waste a year and would replace the current landfill disposal of non-recyclable waste.

A planning application for the burner has been lodged with the council by waste contractor Onyx. There have been calls for the Deputy Prime Minister to call in the incinerator plan.

Brenda Pollack, regional campaigns co-ordinator, said: "We have been overwhelmed by the response."