Campaigners fighting a proposal to build a huge incinerator on the coast to burn thousands of tonnes of rubbish are seeking legal advice to take their battle to court.

Supporters and members of the Defend the Ouse Valley and Estuary group (Dove), are fighting plans by waste contractor Onyx, now Veolia Environmental Services, to build the plant on the North Quay at Newhaven.

Veolia wants to build the plant, which is as tall as seven double-decker buses, to burn 210,000 tonnes of household waste from Brighton and Hove and East Sussex annually.

The burner is being called an energy recovery facility because it will include a turbo generator, which could produce enough energy to power 16,500 homes each year.

Campaigners fighting Veolia's application to East Sussex County Council to build the plant fear it will create pollution, huge lorries and increased traffic and is too near residential homes.

They want the Secretary of State to call the application in and have submitted thousands of letters of objection to the plant. Representatives of Dove also delivered more than 4,000 letters of objection to the Environment Agency in Bedford on Friday, objecting to Veolia's application for a permit to allow it to burn refuse.

A blow to their battle was the recent decision by the Deputy Prime Minister to give East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council the go-ahead to officially adopt the waste local plan.

The plan sets out the blueprint for how our waste will be dealt with over the next decade.

At the heart of the plan is an incinerator to dispose of household waste.

Protesters believe other methods should be used.

Campaigners from Dove are seeking legal advice on how to tackle the planned incinerator and the decision to allow the adoption of the waste local plan.

Linda Sheppard, of Dove, said: "It's up to us to challenge this. Now the Deputy Prime Minister had seen fit to say there's not a reason to call the waste local plan in, we are looking for redress in the High Court."

Campaigners are in talks with solicitors who have worked on similar cases to seek advice about how to tackle the application and the waste local plan.

Mrs Sheppard added: "We are fighting this on three fronts; the waste local plan, the pollution permit and the planning application itself."

The group may have to fundraise should they seek legal help in their battle.