Future waste management arrangements for Brighton and Hove and East Sussex are important for all of us, not least for environmental and financial reasons.

It is, therefore, desirable for reporting and editorial opinion on this issue to inform, rather than obscure the real issues.

The report entitled 'Waste Plan Hit For Six' (Argus, July 26), fell short in at least two respects.

Firstly, the Cabinet proposals were not to allow a successful bidder to choose locations for waste facilities. They were to involve local groups such as DOVE (Defenders of the Ouse Valley and Estuary) in a waste and recycling forum which would help devise criteria for sites based on the principles of sustainability and proximity.

Secondly, there are political differences at work here. The proposals to involve stakeholders and rule out incineration while health risks remain unclear were made by Liberal Democrats. The small Labour group abstained. It was the Conservatives, the largest group on East Sussex County Council, who voted for Beddingham as a site and incineration as a method.

It is easy to advocate Newhaven or Beddingham as a dumping ground for the rubbish of The Place To Be, while blaming East Sussex for disagreeing. I can assure you those in Lewes and down the Ouse Valley to Newhaven and Seaford fully understand the harsh realities of this approach and will continue to resist it. As leader of East Sussex County Council, they have my full support.

-David Rogers, Newhaven's county councillor and leader, East Sussex County Council