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| Q | I am in
the process of buying a house in Capel and have just today become
aware of the proposed waste incinerator at Clockhouse. I have looked at several sites on the internet, but obviously it is hard to know what to believe. |
| A | The position
is: The Surrey Waste Plan (which identifies Capel as a preferred site for an incinerator) has been approved by Surrey County Council and is going to Public Examination, starting next month. The Inspector can ask for changes to the Plan. If he does the changes are binding on the Council. We (Capel Action Group) and others are fighting very hard to have the Capel site removed. There is some history here. A resolution to grant planning permission for an incinerator was approved in 2001 and we took the Council to the High Court and won. The applicant (Surrey Waste Management) this time is the same as last time. They have issued a pre-application pack and are intent on submitting a planning application soon. The Inspector is unlikely to report before the summer. Surrey County Council have committed not to consider any planning application on the site until the Inspector has reported. On this basis it may be that a planning application (assuming the site remains in the Waste Plan) will not be considered by Surrey's Planning and Regulatory Committee until early 2008. On the merits/demerits of incineration I can only suggest that you do your own research. You are evidently doing this and have found our website, so you can glean our stance. Suffice it to say that we oppose incineration on health, environmental and sustainability grounds. Local authorities do not have to go for it - other technologies are available to deal with residual waste, after optimum recycling. On the site itself we believe we have very strong planning arguments against it going ahead. I hope this helps! |