CAMEL Press Release - Proposed Betchworth Sand Extraction

PRESS RELEASE

19 July 2007

County Council shows contempt for public consultation

Planning permission has been sought from Surrey County Council, by JJ Franks to extract 770,000 tonnes of sand from the Common Field, Betchworth and to operate a land-fill site between 2012 and 2024.

The County Council have advised and assisted the developer in compiling a several hundred page document over many months and yet local residents have only been given two weeks to consider and respond to this dramatic incursion into Betchworth Village and the Green Belt.

The planning application has been submitted many months ahead of the Mineral Development Plan which is still under review until Spring 2008.

Paul Tanner, Deputy Chairman Campaign Against Mineral Extraction and Landfill (CAMEL) said, “This is yet another example of Surrey County Council riding rough-shod over their own consultation process in order to meet unrealistic and ill-considered Government targets.”

The Reigate Road Quarry has been mined for over sixty years during which time over 30 planning applications have been made; many of which have requested extensions and alterations to planning conditions. The quarry site was supposed to have been restored to Green Belt over twenty years ago but is larger now than it has ever been, due to the absence of adequate backfill activity.

In February 2006, JJ Franks was granted Certificate of Lawfulness of Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) in respect of a skip hire and a waste transfer business which had been operating illegally for over ten years under the noses of Surrey County Council’s enforcement officers. This, in turn, paved the way for an industrial shed in the heart of Mole Valley Green Belt.

Mr Tanner said, “’Quarry creep‘ and illegal business practice have been a feature of JJ Franks’ operations for decades and Surrey County Council have by their own admission been negligent in allowing this to happen.”

“If the developer gets access to the Common Field the community will be powerless to defend itself against similar unscrupulous exploitation.”

Even a brief examination of the planning application allowed by the very brief consultation period rings alarm bells for CAMEL and the residents of Betchworth and Brockham, whom CAMEL represents.

In response to the presence of breeding skylarks in the Common Field, a species under threat, having declined by over 75% from 1972 to 1996, the developer’s ecologist proposes to scarify the habitat and carry out a programme of ‘human disturbance’ to stop nesting!

While claiming consultation with the community and Betchworth Parish Council, the developer omits to explain in his application that the response to this consultation was vehement opposition to his proposal and demands that the existing quarry be properly restored.

The application goes on to suggest that the impact on residents of the new quarry less than 300 metres from the heart of the village of Betchworth, would be ‘unlikely to affect the level of social problems, community stress and conflict within the area’. In fact the site is immediately adjacent to important village features such as the main footpath, bus stop, post office, elderly residents home, infants school and nursery. It’s impact would be both severe and prolonged.

Mr Tanner said, ’Clearly, the developer is distorting the facts to show his application in the best possible light. There is vehement opposition to this new quarry which will severely affect the lives of residents in Betchworth and Brockham and will put a question mark on the future of Acorns School for more than a generation.’

On behalf of local residents CAMEL will be studying the application further and making appropriate comments to Surrey County Council. In the meantime campaigners will be taking further action but CAMEL encourages  all those who oppose this further industrialisation of the Green Belt to write, quoting reference 2007/0526 to:

Ms Pauline Sparrow, Environment and Regulation, Surrey County Council, County Hall, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey KT1 2DY.

Ends.

For further information:

Nick Caddick: 07970 884003

Campaign Against Mineral Extraction and Landfill (CAMEL)

CAMEL is an action group formed in November 2004 by residents of Betchworth, Brockham, Buckland and West Reigate to resist plans by Surrey County Council to extract sand from open cast mines at the Common Field, Betchworth (OS Ref: TQ 207 501). It is a voluntary organisation and comprises a range of professionals living and working in the area.

For more information please visit www.camel.org

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