A Wasted Opportunity?

The issue of waste remains high on the agenda in Surrey, with not one but two draft waste plans up for discussion. The first, which ended its 6 week period of public consultation in December 2005, comes from the position of Surrey County Council (SCC) as the Waste Planning Authority (WPA) and is called "The Surrey Waste Plan - The Preferred Plan". This basically sets out the County's overall strategy of where and how waste should be handled, giving site specific details. The Liberal Democrats at County Hall criticised this plan as being fundamentally flawed, back in September, because it was predicated on incineration and highlighted a preferred site, Capel. We are still awaiting the results of the public consultation.

The second, which in mid January came before both SCC's Environment & Economy Select Committee and the SCC Executive, forms the County's draft position on how waste should be disposed of, in its role as WDA or Waste Disposal Authority. This takes some of the proposed sites from the WPA's plan and rejects/highlights them. No criteria are given for how these have been chosen. It has detailed plans about upgrading Civic Amenity sites and pursuing the waste hierarchy. It also outlines 8 suggestions for the treatment of residual waste, i.e. what's left over after minimisation and recycling.

Again, there is sketchy information on costings and we are pursuing the Executive Portfolio-holder David Munro for further information, as well as pushing for continuous and rigorous investigation into new and alternative technologies for the treatment of residual waste. The recommendation in the draft plan is to go for a 'mass burn incinerator' at Capel and probably another 'mass burn incinerator' at a choice of Trumps Farm, Longcross or Charlton Lane, Shepperton.

This draft plan from SCC feeds into the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy along with the plans from the waste collection authorities, who are the 11 districts and boroughs in Surrey. A draft version of this Joint Strategy will go out to public consultation in May 2006.