Row erupts over WWII tunnel plans

The tunnels were built under Newhaven during World War II

A row has broken out over plans to offer public tours of wartime tunnels beneath an East Sussex town.

The underground network at Newhaven was a secret Naval base, HMS Forward, which was used in World War II to monitor vessels in the English Channel.

The Friends of HMS Forward want to apply for a Heritage Lottery grant to open the tunnels and tell their story.

But the tunnels run under 24 houses in Glynde Close and resident Paul Harris is opposing the plans.

Coming down here as an 11 or 12-year-old lad was a real adventure Geoffrey Ellis

When the area was developed in the 1970s, there was no official record of the tunnels.

Now the land belongs to the individual residents and the tunnels cannot be developed unless they all give permission.

Mr Harris wants them to be filled in for safety reasons.

"I don't like the idea of people walking about under your house anyway," he said.

"But if I come to sell my house, it must be devalued."

The Friends of HMS Forward invited Mr Harris to look round the tunnels on Tuesday.

Radar Operators

At the moment they are empty and suffering from the attentions of vandals, but the Friends want to install an exhibition of wartime artefacts.

World War II radar operators helped to plot the D-Day landings in the tunnels, whose secrets did not come to light until after the war.

"Coming down here as an 11 or 12-year-old lad was a real adventure - out of all proportion to anything I had ever experienced before," said Geoffrey Ellis, of the Friends.

Mr Harris, however, remained unconvinced after his private visit.

"I feel a bit claustrophobic, but to me it is just a rusty old bit of metal," he said.