9 July 2006 - Branding the Hollingdean Depot  waste proposals as an ‘insensitive overdevelopment,’  Green Euro MP Caroline Lucas has called for the planning approval to be examined at a public inquiry.

Dr Lucas has written to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government asking for a call-in of the approval decision in support of local campaigners and Green city councillors.

Dr Lucas said: “Our starting point must be that we all need to reduce, re-use and recycle our  waste,  but  this application - which would see the whole city’s waste channelled through one site - is more about achieving economies of scale for the contractor than it is an attempt to fit in with residents and the local  area.  The developer has targeted profit over people, and this has resulted in an insensitive overdevelopment.”

Dr Lucas’s letter supports Green city councillor’s attempts to have the application investigated and settled through a public inquiry. Councillor Keith Taylor, Convenor of Brighton & Hove’s Green councillors added: “There is widespread community unhappiness at the council’s decision to approve  the  Hollingdean  Depot  proposals.

"People are feeling let down by their council. We Greens have opposed this overdevelopment from day one. The community has  done  a  fantastic job in arguing against this out-of-scale project and we will continue providing whatever support we can.”

Green city councillors have also appealed directly to the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) citing numerous breaches of development policy concerning traffic, pollution, noise, and negative community impacts.

The  Government Office for the South East had previously refused to call in the  planning application for ministerial decision, but Dr Lucas has argued the request to call in of the planning decision should be treated separately.

ENDS