Residents are furious at a firm which is transporting green waste from across the South East to their quiet village.
KPS Composting Services has applied for permission to quadruple the number of lorries travelling to and from its premises in Lewes Road in Isfield, near Uckfield.
The company takes green waste from councils, building contractors, waste management companies, site clearance firms, estate managers and farmers and then turns it into compost.
It is then used by farmers to help produce organic crops.
Currently the company has a licence for 25 trips a week to the site using eight-wheeler lorries or refuse trucks.
But Steve Usher, manager of KPS, says the firm is already carrying out up to 150 trips to and from the site a week to keep up with demand.
The company has now submitted an application to Wealden District Council to allow even more lorry journeys to the site.
Mr Usher said: "This is almost a retrospective application as at the moment we're using about 100 to 150 journeys a week because of the volume of the waste coming to the site."
If passed, the application would allow up to 260 journeys a week to and from the plant along the narrow country lanes.
But villagers are already angry at the firm's operations.
Isfield Parish Council has objected twice to the previously submitted plans and said the heavy trucks were not only presenting a danger but that the mounds of compost being built up at the site were beginning to look like a 'mini' South Downs.
Parish councillor Jim Smith said: "They want to drive these vehicles up and down our bus route and, at the end of the day, this is just a narrow road. The whole idea is absolutely insane.
"The waste itself is coming in from all over the place, not just East Sussex, and now they want to quadruple the amount. It's a serious worry for people in the village.
"I'm all for green waste and stopping rubbish going into landfill but we're all fearful of the number and size of these vehicles using the road. It's a totally unsuitable site. If you saw these mountains of compost they look like a mini South Downs."
The plant was opened in 2001 and serves Sussex as well as parts of Surrey and Kent.
The site recycled 35,000 tonnes of green waste last year and it is expected that will rise to about 40,000 tonnes this year.
Campaigners have claimed it was built on a flood plain and even that it could pollute drinking water, taken downstream from the River Ouse.
But Mr Usher said: "The amount of waste local councils are recycling is much higher than when we started in 2001.
"We take waste mostly from Wealden and within Sussex, and some from Kent and Surrey, but we're not on the flood plain and the drainage is completely contained, sealed so no liquids leave the site.
"We're helping the organic status of local farms by supplying them with compost, rather than have them use chemical alternatives and the villagers use the site free of charge."
The application will be discussed by Wealden District Council on Thursday, March 6.
Should KPS be allowed to increase the number of lorries using the site? Tell us what you think below.
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