Surrey County Council finally says NO to incineration at Capel

This is a headline that many may not have believed would ever be written.

At a Council Meeting at County Hall on 15 December 2009 the Leader of the Council, Dr Andrew Povey, announced a new vision for Waste Disposal in Surrey . He stated that the County Council had no plans for Energy from Waste incineration in Surrey and that officers would withdraw the planning applications for incinerators at Capel and at Trumps Farm.

This is the final piece in the jigsaw for Capel. The prospect of an incinerator at Capel has now gone, completely.

  Dr Povey made two further announcements:

• a new recycling target for the county has been set of 70%, to be achieved by 2013.
  
• an Eco Park will be established at Charlton Lane , Shepperton, embracing a flexible range of technologies.

It will include Anaerobic Digestion (40,000 tonne capacity)
and Gasification (60,000 tonnes).

The energy generated at the Eco Park will produce sufficient power for
10,000 homes. The Eco Park will also host an innovation centre (which
will look at and develop the latest technologies and will seek recycling
solutions to the more difficult elements in the waste stream) and an
education centre open to all.

The technologies planned for Charlton Lane are forecast to cost £50m compared with £200m for the previous incinerator proposals. DEFRA has confirmed that the PFI monies secured will be transferred to the new proposals.

CAG has achieved everything it sought – the removal of the Clockhouse site from the waste plan, the withdrawal of the planning applications at Clockhouse and the total removal of incineration, which formed the bedrock of Surrey County Council's waste disposal policy for over 10 years.

The final confirmation letter that we had been waiting for arrived recently from Surrey County Council's legal department. This confirms that the planning applications have been withdrawn. It also states that an aftercare scheme for the site has been received, which will result in the site being returned to its original Greenfield status. As a consultee we await receipt of the aftercare scheme for comment.

After considerable effort over many years we achieved this wonderful result in the court room. Our efforts culminated in one of the finest legal teams in the country launching a stunning attack on the County Council's decisions. Peter Village QC and James Strachan had already succeeded in overturning the planning consents in 2001 but Surrey County Council came back for more. Peter and James fought for us again, brilliantly supported by our solicitors, Macfarlanes. We are hugely indebted to our legal team.

Finally a word on finance. Firstly a big thank you to all those who contributed to the fighting fund. We are in the process of finalising our financial position now that our legal obligations have been settled. The bottom line is that we raised sufficient funds and have a surplus left. We shall retain around £1,000 for possible future costs, as we have yet to comment on the aftercare scheme and will respond to the next Waste Plan consultation. That apart the surplus funds will be returned, as promised, to private donors by way of a “dividend”. This is expected to be in the region of 15% and will be subject to a minimum return payment of £10. A financial report will be placed on the website as soon as the final payments have been made.

Dino Adriano and Paul Garber

February 2010