A farmer is offering his land to Southern Water for their new multi-million sewage treatment plant providing they promise not to build near his home.

David Baker, 62, believes he has found the ideal site for works which will process 95 million litres of waste generated by residents on the coastal strip between Hove and Peacehaven.

His company, Bulstrode Farm Ltd, owns a 30-acre site just north of Newhaven, bordered by the River Ouse and the rail line between Lewes and Newhaven.

It was once a former brickworks and can only be seen by a few houses, is immediately north of the Newhaven Industrial Estate where there is a large scrap metal works and quays where gravel is loaded and unloaded.

Mr Baker was horrified when land outside the village had been earmarked as a possible site.

He has already put a huge banner on a trailer on his field saying "Say No to Sewage Plant", urging motorists driving along the coast road between Brighton and Rottingdean to register their protests with Southern Water at Worthing.

The Ovingdean site is one of eight earmarked as possible sites for the treatment works which Southern Water urgently needs to comply with European waste regulations. Others include land next to Roedean School and Black Rock.

Brighton is the only area along the South Coast which does not have a modern sewage treatment works but the problem has been finding space in the Brighton and Newhaven area.

Plans to build a treatment works at Telscombe Cliffs by expanding the existing Portobello works were rejected after a long public inquiry.

Mr Baker said: "My family has lived in Ovingdean for a long time and we are horrified at the prospect of the village being tainted for being the site of a treatment works.

"Southern Water can have our land at Newhaven for a reasonable fee, providing it gives an assurance it will forget about building at Ovingdean.

"To me it seems an ideal site. It is level ground, next to a railway line, just north of an industrial estate and close to a road so lorries would not need to come in and out of Newhaven town centre.

"People say this land floods but this is not the case. Even during the Lewes floods more than two years ago, this land did not flood.

"Southern Water has already identified two sites at Newhaven, one of which is opposite our fields on the west side of the bank and to the north of our site.

"It shows it is looking at this area and our offer of land may solve Southern Water's problems and end the ridiculous idea of building a treatment works at Ovingdean."

Southern Water says building a treatment works at Newhaven would require the building of a long outfall at the port and the construction of a new pipeline between Portobello and Newhaven.

At present a consultation process is continuing to find which of the eight sites put forward by the water company is the best one for Southern Water to put in a planning application.

Geoff Loader, communications manager or Southern Water, said: "We would love it if someone could wave a magic wand and come up with an ideal site.

"Everyone accepts we need to build the treatment works but the problem is where. We came up with what we thought were the best sites in Newhaven taking everything into consideration."