What funding his Department has provided to local authorities in connection with the East Sussex local waste plan since that plan was adopted.

The Department has provided approximately £70,000 to East Sussex county council and Brighton and Hove city council through a combination of planning delivery grant and housing and planning delivery grant.

I thank the Minister for that answer, but he might also have mentioned the private finance initiative credits provided previously by the Treasury. Does he share my concern that some of the promises from East Sussex county council, especially about its disliked incinerator, have simply not been carried through? For example, it promised that the incinerator could be accessed by rail, but in reality every deposit will come by road, with a lorry passing through Newhaven every two minutes. What can the Government do to ensure that the county council pays some attention at least to the environmental effect of its actions?

We expect local plans to be based on a strong understanding of the potential for supplying energy to local developments by renewable and low-carbon technologies. We publish practice guidance to help do that and to show how it can be done.