Surrey Lib Dems call for rejection of Capel as waste treatment site

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 27th Sep 2005

Surrey's Liberal Democrat County Councillors have reacted strongly to the suggestion by Surrey County Council's Executive that the Clockhouse Brickworks in Capel be the preferred site for a large-scale waste treatment plant.

The site has been put forward in The Surrey Waste Plan - The Preferred Plan 2005 as "the only site which is firmly proposed for thermal treatment". The Conservative-run Executive today approved to send the plan out for public consultation, as part of a two-year process before the adoption of the plan that is expected in Autumn 2007.

The Surrey Waste Plan actually lists a number of sites for large-scale waste treatment facilities, with only the Capel site situated outside the Green Belt. Although national planning policy guidance states that waste is not a category of development appropriate in the Green Belt, there are "special circumstances" where this could be allowed.

Commenting on the Plan, County Councillor Sarah Di Caprio the Liberal Democrats Environment Spokesperson, said that the Liberal Democrats rejected Capel as the only potential site and called for more investigation into and more information on the "special circumstances" surrounding some of the proposed Green Belt sites.

She said: "We do not believe the solution to our waste problem in Surrey lies at Capel. The site has been rejected by Judicial Review and there are further issues concerning the site that still need to be considered. This means that Capel remains an unsuitable site."

Sarah Di Caprio continued: "Of course we want to safeguard our Green Belt from unnecessary development but, if sites are being put forward in this waste plan, it is only right that we hear more about the 'special circumstances' that would allow waste development in the Green Belt."

Surrey's Liberal Democrat County Councillors 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.

Sarah Di Caprio added: "This has to continue as a priority through the life of the waste plan but we are also calling for greater and more regular investigation into alternative and new waste treatment technologies as they appear."

Sarah Di Caprio concluded: "We are also calling on Surrey County Council to refocus this draft to be neutral on new technologies. The plan makes reference to incineration in its Spatial Strategy, calling it 'the most practicable, financially viable and sustainable approach presently available for that residual part [of the waste]'. This will surely have the effect of only encouraging planning applications for incinerators. It is essential that we, as a county, have access to all waste treatment technologies which become available over time."