Write to Sir Paul Beresford

Write to Sir Paul Beresford urging him to encourage the Secretary of State to call in the planning application for a mass-burn incinerator at Clockhouse Brickworks in Capel, as the community has no confidence in Surrey County Council's ability to consider the application in an independent and fair manner, absent of commercial bias.

Send your letter to:

Sir Paul Beresford MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Include in your letter reasons why Surrey County Council should not determine the planning application. They include the following:

• The County's Waste Disposal Authority (WDA) has doggedly pursued mass-burn incineration for over 10 years. On 26 October 2004 Executive formally approved the County Council's Waste Policy Statement in which incineration was clearly identified as the favoured technology for residual waste. This statement formed part of the draft Waste Plan documentation. Subsequently the draft Waste Plan identified the Clockhouse Brickworks site in Capel as the “preferred” site for a mass-burn incinerator, which resulted in Capel and incineration neatly residing together.
  
• Unfortunately for Surrey County Council the Inspectors found the Waste Plan to be over prescriptive. In the final version of the Plan, post the Examination in Public, Capel's “preferred” status has been removed from the Plan as has the Waste Policy Statement. As a result the Waste Plan, in theory, is now “technology neutral” and Capel is just 1 of 5 potential sites for thermal treatment (which includes incineration, plasma gasification and other EfW technologies). Given the WDA's obsession with incineration it is impossible to see the WDA taking a technology neutral approach, particularly as the Waste Policy Statement, although no longer part of the Waste Plan, remains County Council policy.
  
• Despite the Inspectors' changes to the Waste Plan, which are binding, Surrey County Council have challenged the Inspectors' report over the allocation of 2 sites for thermal treatment .The Environment portfolio holder has publicly stated “ I should make clear that the County Council does not have plans to build thermal treatment facilities at Wisley or Martyrs Lane.” This demonstrates the influence of the 25-year disposal contract with Surrey Waste Management in the County Council's determination to dismiss the Inspectors' decisions.
  
• On 6 December 2001 the County Council's Planning and Regulatory Committee voted in favour of an incinerator at the Clockhouse Brickworks site by 8 votes to 6. One member, Mr Terry Dicks, stated at the meeting that he had changed his mind at the eleventh hour in choosing to vote for the application. A non-voting member, Mr David Davis, brought the issue of the contract with Surrey Waste Management (the applicant) into the meeting. (Mr Davis is now a voting member of the Committee). There were suggestions at the time that inappropriate pressure had been brought to bear on certain members of the Planning and Regulatory Committee. The resolution to grant planning permission was subsequently quashed in the High Court.
  
• On 9 June 2006 the Environment and Economy Select Committee formally voted in favour of EfW (meaning mass-burn incineration) as “the most appropriate technology” to deal with Surrey 's residual waste, by 7 votes to 3. 3 of the members voting in favour are today members of the Planning and Regulatory Committee. The members are Mr Fred Chipperfield, Mr Roy Taylor and Ms Denise Turner. Another member of the Planning and Regulatory Committee is Mr David Davis, the initial architect of the County Council's Waste Strategy and contract with Surrey Waste Management, and the initiator of the County Council's Waste Policy Statement. Because of these 4 members'clear individual commitment to mass-burn incineration, together with that of the County Council as a whole, the Planning and Regulatory Committee cannot be relied upon to consider the planning application for an incinerator at Capel in a wholly independent manner, because there is no confidence that members will limit their consideration to the planning merits of the application.
  
• In the light of the final Waste Plan the planning application for a mass-burn incinerator at the Clockhouse Brickworks site is now inappropriate and incomplete as it relies on the Capel site being “preferred” which is no longer the case. As it is just 1 of 5 sites allocated for thermal treatment, the planning application must include full comparative assessments to establish the most appropriate location having regard to the key planning issues which include sustainability, PPS 1, landscape impact, proximity, highway network and air quality issues.