Liberal Democrats Call for Changes to Draft Waste Plan

At today's County Council meeting, Surrey's Liberal Democrats urged the Council to amend its draft waste plan prior to public consultation. This is because it prioritises incineration over other technologies and identifies a preferred site for thermal treatment instead of treating all identified sites on an equal basis. Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Cllr Sarah Di Caprio highlighted the flaws in the document "The Surrey Waste Plan - The Preferred Plan 2005", which the Conservative-run Executive voted last month to send out for a six-week public consultation starting October 31st.

"We wanted the Executive to amend the draft waste plan because it gives far too much emphasis to incineration above new technologies," said Sarah. "The plan makes reference to incineration in its Spatial Strategy, calling it 'the most practicable, financially viable and sustainable approach presently available'. This will have the effect of encouraging only planning applications for incinerators. It is essential that we, as a county, have access to all the waste treatment technologies which become available over the lifetime of the plan."

The other aspect of the plan that the Lib Dems consider flawed is the singling out of Capel near Dorking as the 'preferred site for thermal treatment'. "We are trying to seek a level playing field so that all sites in this draft plan are assessed on the same basis. We just do not believe that is the case with this plan," said Sarah. However, after a lengthy debate, the Council decided to send out the draft plan out for consultation without amendment.

Sarah said: "It is disappointing that the Council did not take this opportunity to make this Waste Plan clearer and more forward thinking. There are far too many ifs, buts and maybes in this plan. The Council needs to be more open-minded and flexible to accommodate future developments in technology. My concern is that by limiting our options now, we run the risk of not providing Surrey with the best possible option in the future.

"Liberal Democrats are committed to managing waste at the top of the so-called waste hierarchy, which places reduction, reuse and recycling & composting above energy recovery and finally disposal. The top priority for the County Council has to be to ensure that reduce, reuse and recycle is greatly increased from the current poor levels in Surrey."