Surrey Lib Dems Welcome Waste Plan Sites Deletion

The Liberal Democrats at Surrey County Council today welcomed the deletion of three proposed thermal treatment sites from the Council's Waste Plan.

Today's full council meeting saw the three sites - Heather Farm and Martyrs Lane in Woking and Wisley Airfield in Guildford - urgently recommended for deletion from the plan just prior to it being discussed at Public Examination on February 13th.

Said Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Sarah Di Caprio, "I am pleased that finally the Surrey County Council Executive - and now full council - has decided that these sites are not suitable to be considered in the Plan," she said. "The Council has been spurred into action by Natural England and the EU Habitats Directive - the 'Special Protection Areas' or SPAs - suggesting that these three sites are no longer considered suitable because of the effect of air emissions from any thermal treatment facilities on the heathland vegetation supporting protected bird species.

"Local people have been making representations for some time that none of these three sites are suitable and not just for thermal treatment, so I suspect there will be some celebrating in those areas now.

"Another serious aspect is the potential financial implications of some of these decisions. Ever since the three sites first appeared in the Plan, concerns have been raised that they would not be accepted precisely because of issues like SPA and SSSI," she said. "We heard today that the additional work by consultants on this latest work is likely to result in a cost overrun of around 5% for the Waste Plan overall."

Also under discussion was the consideration of Homefield Sandpit, Runfold as an alternative site for aggregates recycling in the Plan. This has not previously been consulted on and will now be put out for public consultation.

Said Sarah Di Caprio, "I think it is important local residents in Runfold and the surrounding area get an opportunity to have their say on whether or not the site should be in the Plan," she said. "That hasn't happened to date. It remains to be seen whether we will be having another debate in the near future recommending this site removed from the Plan as unsuitable because of its location."