BALI Chairman Newsletter - December 2009

Christmas & New Year Message from Nick Hollington, Chairman of BALI
as published in the Bexhill Observer dated 11th December 2009

Dear Sir/Madam

On behalf of BALI, I would like to thank all those who have supported us, including your newspaper, in our opposition to the proposed landfill at Ashdown Brickworks since East Sussex County Council published its new waste plan in September.

This has been a hectic time for BALI, but we have been strongly encouraged by the volume of letters, emails and phone calls we have received as also the reception of the public at the meetings we have addressed. The climax of our campaign was, of course, our packed Public Meeting on November 6th, where speaker after speaker, representing various community groups or political parties, or simply themselves, spoke forceful and intelligently of the many devastating dangers of such a huge dump so close to residents' homes and local amenities such as the Highwoods and the new Bexhill High School.

We believe such a landfill will adversely affect our whole town in various ways in terms of waste truck routes, air pollution, depreciation in house prices, effects on tourism and business, etc. all of which will, if the proposal is implemented, militate against the quality of life we enjoy in Bexhill and the economic regeneration we seek. Bexhill has done enough in disposing of the County's waste: we cannot continually be the County's dumping ground.

If we are to be called 'NIMBYS' so be it, but no-one else will protect our environment if we ourselves don't. In fact, however, BALI does not support the dumping of waste in the ground anywhere. It is the most environmentally damaging of all ways of dealing with rubbish and wastes valuable resources which could be reused, recycled or recovered. Neither does it encourage the essential reduction of waste which we need to achieve. In any case, in the 21st Century there are many new technologies available to deal with waste which are far more efficient and friendly. Landfill should be history.

There are no benefits whatsoever for Bexhill in accepting a landfill as your previous correspondent Mr. Minter has suggested. Waste trucks will simply arrive and dump their loads at Ashdown (it will not be a civic amenity) creating little employment gain to counteract jobs that may be lost elsewhere, even perhaps at the Brickworks itself. Rother District and its taxpayers will receive no financial reward while the site-owner and waste contractor will pocket huge sums of money at our expense. There is no 'other side of the coin'.

In this respect it is important to understand that it is not your local Rother District Council that is to blame: they only collect your domestic waste; it is East Sussex County Council (ESCC) who dispose of it. Local District councillors of all political parties have, we are glad to say, now come out strongly against the proposed landfill. It is time now to put further pressure on your County Council and County Councillors.

Many people have already written strong letters of objection to ESCC. If you haven't done so yet, please do so before the deadline of January 15th, 2010. If you need any help, we have published an information sheet explaining how to object and where to send your objections. This is available on our website or by phoning BALI on 07814 895874. Please use this number also If you would like further information or feel you could help BALI or give a donation to our Fighting Fund.

Finally BALI would like to wish all our supporters a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. In 2010, I believe, if we can stay united against this pernicious proposal, we can defeat it and finally remove this dark spectre that has been hanging over our town for so long. But it may be a long hard fight with many battles yet to come.

Nick Hollington

Chairman BALI

Link-Up Sparks Landfill Fears

As Reported in the Bexhill Observer of 4th December 2009

The threat of landfill in Bexhill has grown with the news of an agreement between the owners of Ashdown Brickworks and a waste management company.

Brick manufacturer Ibstock, which runs the Turkey Road site, has signed an agreement with Cory Environmental, a leading waste disposal company.
Six-monthly meetings between Ibstock and BALI, which began in 2001, have ceased as the company moves into the early stage of evaluating the potential for landfill.
Nick Hollington, chairman of BALI, condemned the move, saying 'It was a shock to us. We never thought this would happen so soon.
'You would think that they would wait until the current consultation process is completed.
'It really is thumbing their noses up to Bexhill.
'It's saying "you can have your public meetings, you can send your letters to East Sussex County Council (ESCC) but we are just going ahead."
'I find it utterly deplorable.'
The move comes in the same week ESCC announced an extension to the consultation process.
A spokesman from Ibstock, which has a 10-year history of collaborating with Cory, rejected the idea that they were trying to rush through a planning application saying: "I cannot say that we are going to proceed with an application.
"We would need to do it with a partner, and that depends entirely on Cory and if they decide it's a project they would like to take further.
"An application would probably take two or three years to put together. No one could predict the length of time."
Questioned over the timing of the move, the spokesman said: "We see that there may be a better opportunity for us now than there may have been in the past."
Speculation that Ibstock may have been encouraged to talk to Cory by ESCC was denied by the county council, whose spokesman said in a statement: "Any operator or landowner can submit a planning application for a new waste management facility at any time."
Mr Hollington will lodge a Freedom Of Information request to reveal all correspondence between Ibstock, ESCC and Cory Environmental.
Rother District Council (RDC) and local MP Greg Barker have both come out fighting this week.
As a key consultee, the council submission to ESCC concludes:'It is premature to put forward Ashdown Brickworks as a location for waste disposal in the Core Strategy and it should therefore be excluded'.
Mr Barker said "I'm alarmed and surprised that Ibstock is so actively pursuing an agenda which runs contrary to the best interests of the town.
"I have requested a meeting with lead cabinet member for East Sussex to ascertain what officers at Lewes have been saying, and I'm supporting the Freedom Of Information requests to ascertain exactly what's been going on.
"If the officers are giving encouraging signals to Ashdown Brickworks it makes a mockery of the whole consultation and waste plan process."
Mr Hollington added:"People must not stop sending in their forms. I think this indicates we have a long fight and I don't think the public will take this lying down."
He also called for more support from both district and county councillors. Although some restrictions, reported in last week's Observer, affect county councillors, the Standards Board clearly distinguishes between predisposition and predetermination.
The document reads "It is not a problem for councillors to be predisposed. Predisposition is where a councillor holds a view in favour of or against an issue, for example a planning permission, but they have an open mind to the merits of the argument before they make the final decision at the council meeting.
"This includes having formed a preliminary view about how they will vote before they attend the meeting, and / or expressing that view publicly. They may even have been elected specifically because of their views on this issue."
The consultation deadline has been extended to Friday, January 15th to accommodate parish council meeting schedules.
To comment on the plans, visit www.eastsussex.gov.uk/haveyoursay (a better link is The ESCC Consultation Portal website)send your comments by post to: Transport and Environment, East Sussex County Council, C4 Waste and Minerals Policy (AP), FREEPOST (LW43), Lewes, BN7 1BR.
For information about protesting, please contact Nick Hollington on 01424 843046.

See the Bexhill Observer website.

BALI Chairman Newsletter - November 2009

Our feet have hardly touched the ground since the extraordinarily successful Public Meeting on 6th November regarding which our Consultant commented: "BALI is to be congratulated for all the organization required for this most excellent meeting-certainly one of the biggest and best I have ever attended".

I have written personally to thank all of the speakers, also to the 60 or so people whose names we collected who were unfortunately locked out. Greg Barker MP has also written to them. If anyone was locked out and we didn't collect your name please accept my apologies.

The reaction from the public has been phenomenal and it is clear that so many people have submitted objections to the proposed landfill at Ashdown Brickworks. They often have sent BALI copies – some of them exceptionally well argued - of their letters of objection to ESCC, many using our Consultant's guide to 'How to Object?' given out at the meeting and sent to all those 'locked out' as well as many others. I shall be giving this guide out again when I address the Town Forum tonight. We are approaching the last week of the Consultation and we are making a last push to make sure as many people as possible submit their objections.

The phone hardly stops ringing with enquiries, although many people use our email info@nolandfillatbexhill.org.uk. Some of these are from those who would be particularly affected. For instance, Alex Skilton of Chestnut Meadow Camping and Caravan Park emailed us yesterday to ask whether any "buffer zone" was required between a landfill zone and tourist amenities. Such a "buffer zone" is indeed mentioned in the Preferred Strategy but the distance is not specified. We would argue that it should be the 500 metres used for the SSSIs (though seemingly not applied to the Highwoods) or the 1km from urban areas applied to landraise sites.

Donations and Other Practical Help

Many people have been asking where to send donations (Please send to: BALI Treasurer Pauline Rosner, 16 Hillborough Close, Little Common, Bexhill on Sea TN39 3TW ) or if they can offer practical help. Martin Hargreaves of Sidley has produced an adapted map of Google Earth illustrating the distance of the quarries from local amenities and has produced his own illustrated flyer in "layman’s language" to distribute locally.

New Concerns

Also people feed in new concerns or information or make independent enquiries - which we fully encourage. Russell Dufton fed in to us his particular concern about low-level nuclear waste, which the government recently decided could be put in ordinary landfill sites. Russell has also made and is continuing to make enquiries of Euro MPs such as the leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas.

Health Concerns

Other residents are concerned about the fly ash and bottom ash from incinerators to be placed in landfill which can amount to 25-30% of the waste burnt and contains dioxins. I have referred them to the excellent Friends of the Earth report on "The Safety of Incinerator Ash".

Indeed local residents are very concerned about health issues for themselves or their children attending the local High School and quite rightly so. Already, one resident pointed out, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister reported last year "significantly poorer health among residents of Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne than in the rest of the County."

Alternative Uses for the Ashdown Site

We have received a lot of correspondence suggesting alternative and better uses for the Ashdown site which could become an important resident and tourist amenity.

BALI has already made a registered suggestion to Rother District Council in their Local Development Framework that there be a West Bexhill Countryside Park incorporating the Highwoods, the Ashdown quarries and surrounding ancient woodland and rolling countryside and farmland, but we have currently neither the time nor expertise to develop such a project.

Alan Malpass of the Highwoods supports such a scheme and Sandra Melvin of Bexhill in Bloom has made some rough sketches of how she believes the quarries could be restored and landscaped. We have written to all those interested and several environmentalists such as Dr Edward Echlin suggesting a parallel or 'sister' group to BALI be formed to formulate more detailed proposals with the aid of experts in the field.

Support from Local Groups

Many local community groups I have been helping write their submissions, most importantly Highwoods Preservation Society: please read their submission.

The Highwoods Golf Club voted unanimously at their recent AGM to support our campaign and to donate £500 to BALI. (A further £100 was received from the Club Captain on behalf of the golfers.) The Club Secretary (John Hollands) has also submitted the Club's objections to ESCC on behalf of its 805 members asking these to be considered as 805 separate objections.

Support from Local Councillors

It is also heartening that more Councillors have come through to support us, as illustrated by letters from them to the Bexhill Observer. But they are still only a small proportion of the 38 Rother District Councillors, 18 of whom represent Bexhill and we still need and are trying to get far more RDC Councillor support.

Also no County Councillor has yet stated clearly his or her opposition to the proposals - and yet this is largely a County Council matter. They claim they must not "predetermine" themselves, but our legal advice is that this does not mean they cannot say anything. They can be "predisposed" to opposing the landfill, saying for example that "On the evidence I have seen, a landfill in this location would not be suitable or workable", as long as it is clear that they have not entirely made up their mind.

Response from Rother District Council

We are waiting for the official response of Rother District Council (RDC) to the Preferred Strategy as key 'statutory consultee'. We are advised that if RDC are clearly against the proposed landfill it is unlikely that ESCC will proceed to place it in their Core Strategy.

We are also hoping the Bexhill Town Charter Trustees might accept a motion of opposition to the landfill in the name of protecting the town of Bexhill and have written to the Mayor and several Trustees accordingly.

BALI's latest Action

BALI's Official Response

Our Consultant, Geoff Smith of DMH Stallard is now preparing BALI's official response to the ESCC which, apart from Rother District Council's own response, will probably be the most important submission, which is not to undervalue those made by local groups or members of the public.

Geoff, who spoke at the Public Meeting and gave detailed advice to residents on how to object to the proposals, is an ex-planner with bags of experience and knowledge of planning law. In 2005 he had a famous victory representing the Mountfield action group in successfully removing the proposal for a waste incinerator in Mountfield from the ESCC Waste Local Plan. Let's hope he achieves the same result for BALI and Bexhill!

Geoff is also pressing ESCC to investigate the other 'opportunity areas' mentioned as possibilities for landraise sites in the Preferred Strategy but not detailed in any way. These have been the subject of a study by Scott Wilson which is hidden away in the Supporting Papers to the Strategy, but this has been so far a desk-based study with no detailed out-of-the-office investigation.

BALI will insist that every one of these areas is investigated for potential sites and that these sites are then compared on a level playing field with Ashdown. We will be asking in particular why they consider that these be subject to a buffer zone of 1 kilometre from urban areas but this constraint is not applied to Ashdown.

BALI attends the The Link Road Enquiry

BALI's Mike and Pauline Rosner and Barbara Rogers have been attending the Link Road Public Inquiry in Hastings where they have objected to what they/we see as an attempt to spend large sums of public money on a major access road to the Ashdown site. This is not the Link Road itself but a spur road off it from a point above Glover's Farm leading to the A269 which would meet up with it at a point where a service road could be driven in (on the other side) to the Ashdown site. This road is already in Council plans and is called euphemistically the 'Country Avenue'.

BALI Committee Changes

But our main activity in BALI at the moment is to ‘regroup’ and expand our committees and increase the number of our active helpers. This might seem strange in that we would surely hope that Ashdown is removed from the ESCC Core Strategy as a result of all the objections made in the current consultation? This may indeed happen but, after 7 years of fighting this proposal, BALI is only too well aware of the resistance of ESCC to letting go of this proposal and the determination of the site owners Ibstock to pursue a landfill on their site for their commercial profit.

While hopeful of success in removing Ashdown from the Core Strategy, BALI -and Bexhill- must be prepared for the ‘worst-case scenario’ that Ashdown is (still) included in what’s called the “presubmission Core Strategy” scheduled to be published in February 2010 (but I believe it will be much later, when a further consultation will be held.

We must be prepared for a long fight, which is why BALI, a small team this past year, is currently regrouping into two enlarged committees: a Campaign Committee and a Fundraising Committee. Many people, on the back of the Public Meeting and your newspaper coverage have come forward to offer help and we shall be writing to them this week to see what particular help they are willing to offer.

Join in the Campaign!

If you haven't given your name and would be willing to help BALI, please ring Nick Hollington on 01424 843046, or call 01424 220109 or 01424 845688, or mobile 07814 895874, or write to PO Box 194 Bexhill-on-Sea TN40 9BD, or email info@nolandfillatbexhill.org.uk.

On behalf of BALI I'd like to thank all our helpers and supporters for their encouragement to us to go on fighting, with your help to stop this awful proposal which will blight our and our children's lives for over 20 years, if it comes to fruition. we will continue to fight tooth and nail to prevent a landfill at Ashdown Brickworks. If Bexhill is united against it, and stays united, I believe we will win.

Nick Hollington

Chairman, BALI Campaign Committee

23rd November 2009

Chairmans Speech to the Public Meeting November 6th 2009

BALI Chairman's Speech

Nick Hollington: 6th November 2009

First of all, on behalf of BALI, I'd like to welcome you all to this meeting and particularly the speakers who have so generously given their time to address us here tonight, and to Greg Barker, our MP, for kindly agreeing to Chair it.

For many in the audience, particularly our loyal BALI supporters, this third meeting here in this very hall, with this very same Chairman – we met here in 2002 and 2005 - to oppose a landfill at Ashdown Brickworks, must feel a bit like what is nowadays called Groundhog Day in reference to the film of the same name about a man who continually repeats the same day over and over again, seemingly trapped in an endless time-loop.
I have to say I have often felt like that myself these past few years.

I believe, however, that we can now break this cycle, as did the character in the film, and remove this dark spectre that continually hangs over us of a massive waste dump on our doorstep.

I meet or get calls almost every day from people who ask me about BALI and the proposed landfill at Ashdown and I really enjoy giving them information and hearing their views and, above all, receiving their encouragement for what BALI is doing. What I have to say I don't enjoy is hearing some people claiming to know what is going to happen regarding a landfill at Ashdown whether it's of the 'Oh! It's never going to happen' variety or the 'Oh! That's bound to happen whatever we do' kind. I have to tell you – and I'm sure the gentlemen from ESCC here tonight will confirm it - that NO firm decision has yet been reached on a landfill at Ashdown Brickworks. At the same time, I strongly believe that, if we do nothing, a landfill will probably happen, with all its egregious consequences for the community of Bexhill, consequences that any people here from the Pebsham area have had to suffer, I'm sorry to say, for the last 25 years or so. Doing nothing, as they say, is not an option.

Why, you may well ask, is it so difficult to defeat this pernicious proposal, which to many of us here seems so blindingly obviously wrong? Well there are lots of reasons, but three main ones I think.

Firstly, Ashdown is what is called a minerals void, a large hole in the ground (in fact two holes) caused by the excavation of clay. Traditionally, the simple answer to waste has been to bury it in such holes and of course this is also of great value to the owners of the holes, who eventually will otherwise be required to restore the land at their own cost when the pit is fully excavated, and in effect, by this means, get paid vast sums for doing so.

Secondly, Ashdown was, in 2006, despite BALI's opposition, identified in what is called the Waste Local Plan as the only site for landfill in the County. Now we have come to a new plan, what's called a Core Strategy for Waste. Unfortunately, however, there's a tradition that I've never really understood that if something goes in one plan it is more or less automatically transferred to the next. In that case, I'd say, what's the point in making new plans?

Thirdly – and this is controversial and would be denied by many – Councillors in the rest of East Sussex and Brighton and Hove will expect the waste to come to Ashdown because otherwise it would raise the possibility of a landfill in their area. They will say 'There's a big hole in Bexhill. It's quite obvious it should go there'. They might add with their thoughts, if not their words 'After all, we've always sent our waste to Bexhill'.

This is why it's so important that our local Bexhill councillors defend our interests. No-one else will!

So, given this heavy pressure to use Ashdown as a landfill site, how can we defeat this proposal and emerge out of Groundhog Day? How can we get Ashdown removed from the Core Strategy in the Consultation that is now taking place? Well, our Consultant, Geoff Smith will be giving us detailed advice on this shortly, but let me, if I may, set the scene:

The gentlemen from ESCC Waste Team here tonight, who are highly professional people to whom I trust you will listen to respectfully, have a huge job, which I don't envy, to manage the approximate 2 million tonnes of waste produced in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove each year. I imagine it must be like a giant jigsaw puzzle where you have to fit different pieces in different places: somewhere an incinerator, somewhere a waste transfer station, somewhere composting .... and, let's face it, nobody ideally wants any waste facility in their backyard. It's a difficult task and they are seriously trying to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill but, at the end of the day, there's this big jigsaw piece of waste that needs to be landfilled somewhere. So then there is what appears to be a big suitable space for that jigsaw piece in Bexhill. It's a mineral void hole in the ground, perhaps it's even the right size. It looks on the surface as if this jigsaw piece goes there. But.. a big but.. problems arise when you try to put that piece in. When you do, I believe, however you twist it and turn it, it simply doesn't’t fit Ashdown.

Because what it has to fit is not just the physical space – and that is even subject to doubt as the quarries are not yet fully excavated, but it has also to fit government and county policies which determine where you can and where you can’t put a landfill site.

Now, it may surprise you to know that BALI supports all government policies regarding the siting of landfill and particularly ESCC's own policy in its new plan. It's called 'Spatial Policy CS6'. We have no quarrels with it. We think it's excellent. We just don't understand how the Council could possibly select Ashdown as a landfill site under that – their own-policy.

Let me give you a few examples of what I mean:

• Policy CS6 states that the Council must demonstrate that there is no unacceptable impact on the local environment.
  
  In more detail it states that a landfill site should not be situated less than 500 metres away from valued environments such as ancient woodland, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and areas of outstanding natural beauty. But you surely couldn't have a more valued environment in Bexhill than the Highwoods – yes, ancient woodland, an SSSI - and it's less than not 500 metres, but 50 metres away from the quarries and it's unique flora and fauna would be devastated by a landfill so close to its borders.
• Policy CS6 also states that the Council must demonstrate that there is no unacceptable impact on communities.
  Well I don't think the people in this audience and the community of 5000 or so people living within a mile of the site - and many much less than that, would agree for one minute that the impact of a landfill at Ashdown would be acceptable. In detail the Strategy talks about effect on the users of local amenities. Well how about, for instance, the people who daily visit their departed loved ones in the cemetery 250 metres away, the golfers at the Highwoods Golf Club just across the road from the site and I believe, most importantly of all, the 1600 or so young people who will be studying in the new Bexhill High School being built just behind us and within 800 metres from the Ashdown site.
  I give one more example but there are others;
• Policy CS6 states that the Council must demonstrate that there is good access to the main areas of waste arisings in East Sussex
  and I would remind you that by far the greatest area of waste arisings is Brighton and Hove.  How could they possibly demonstrate that? Good access? Sorry – hopeless access! Waste trucks can't possibly use Turkey road, Whydown Road, Pear Tree Lane, St Mary'’s Lane, Gunters Lane, Sidley High Street. Even if they were to slip an access road in from the Ninfield Road, the A269, that road is insufficient and how would that slip road entrance be accessed from Hastings or Bexhill?
  Of course, what they need is the Link Road and then a substantial spur road from it leading to the A269 and then the slip road. Well that might happen in 10-15 years time, but the Council needs landfill sites now: they don't have any at the present time.
  

So the jigsaw piece simply doesn't fit - and if they tried to make it fit, to force it in, it will be a disaster. But they might try, so we must act.

 

So What Do We Have To Do?

Well three things again and many of these are already underway.

1. BALI needs to present a strong case in planning terms to ESCC as to why their Preferred Option for landfill at Ashdown is, and I use planning terms here: 'unsafe', 'unsound' and  not 'effective'. In common parlance that simply means wrong.
   One change in modern planning practice is that the Council must have what is called a strong 'evidence base' to justify any identification of a site for landfill. We believe that the evidence in the case of Ashdown is 'flawed' -another planning term- and we will present our own robust evidence base to show that Ashdown is unsuitable and unworkable in the time-frame required. Through the generosity of our supporters we have been able to afford to instruct a distinguished legal – planning Consultant Geoff Smith, who will speak to you tonight, and his case is almost ready now to submit in the current consultation.
2. Rother District Council will also make a submission to ESCC as what's called a 'statutory consultee' and their submission will carry great weight. We hope that they will again point out the flaws in the proposal that make it currently unworkable and therefore 'unsafe' and 'unsound'.
3. Last, but not least, we need the CLEAR VOCAL SUPPORT OF OUR MP (We have it), OUR COUNCILLORS (some give it, some still don'’t, I'm afraid) and the GOOD PEOPLE OF BEXHILL who have shown their support by turning out it in such numbers on this damp miserable November night and who can each play their part by making submissions to the consultation and by writing to their councillors urging their support for BALI.

 

---

In the film GROUNDHOG DAY, the main character uses his continual experiences of reliving the past to improve himself, to learn more about his surroundings and to work with others for good. One day he wakes up - and the time-loop is broken. It's a new dawn! In the same way, if we can defeat this proposal - but we must act now!- we can move on with our lives and start planning something really special for the Ashdown site once it is excavated and many of our speakers will address this much more attractive prospect this very evening.

Again, I thank you for coming this evening.

Nick Hollington, Chairman, BALI

Unity Against Landfill Plan for Ashdown Brickworks

By Ben Higgins - Published Bexhill Observer Date: 13 November 2009

HUNDREDS of landfill protesters packed out a public meeting about the fate of Ashdown Brickworks.
Politics were laid aside for the event, as speakers from all corners of the town united in solidarity against the possibility of a new landfill site.

Bexhill High School hall reached its 350 capacity well before the 7pm start. Around 60 people were locked out in the rain.

Bexhill's MP Greg Barker, who chaired the meeting, said: "There will be a battle to stop this site being used for landfill. There's a huge amount at stake — the future of the town, the value of your homes, the environment you pass on to the next generation and the health of our residents.

""We can win if we all come together."

Donations on the night raised £1,170 to support Bexhill Against Landfill and Incineration (BALI), which organised Friday's meeting.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting, the third of its kind since 2002, gave context to East Sussex County Council's (ESCC) decision to name Ashdown Brickworks, Turkey Road, as the preferred choice for a major new landfill site designed to take 4.5million tonnes of waste from East Sussex and Brighton and Hove until 2026.

Geoff Smith, BALI's legal consultant, urged residents to submit protests and passed around a handout explaining the best way to register an objection.

He said: "Some people think all the letters you write will not make any difference at all. I know there are key times when letters and submissions matter. This is that time. They will matter. We have a really big chance to take Ashdown Brickworks out of the waste plan once and for all."

ESCC was represented by Ian Blake, a team manager for the Waste and Mineral Planning Policy document, published in September, in which Ashdown Brickworks is the only site specifically named and highlighted on a map detailing possible landfill locations.

After explaining his role, Mr Blake took questions from an audience angered by the prospect of accepting around 1,120 tonnes of the county's waste each day for 11 years, during which he confirmed ESCC plans to ignore government recommendations that the new landfill accept 8.8 per cent of London's waste – 106,000 tonnes a year.

A procession of Bexhill's community figures outlined the damage they believed the landfill could cause.

Alan Malpass, president of Highwoods Preservation Society, said the landfill would be a "tragedy" for the nearby Site of Special Scientific Interest, and warned of a devastating explosion in the population of rats and gulls.

Dominic Manning, of Rother Environmental Group, and Dr Edward Echlin both counselled a responsible attitude towards recycling before Stuart Earl, of the Little Common Business Association, spoke about the damage such a landfill would do for the town's business community.

Brian Storkey, of the Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, said: "Bexhill absolutely depends on tourism for our shops to survive. This could deter big business from investing, and small businesses from starting up.

Mr Storkey, of the Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, continued: "It could be disastrous. One thing is certain – it will not be a visitor attraction."

Further speeches from two of the 12 Rother District councillors who attended, Cllrs Forster and Lendon, added weight to the objectors, balanced by a cautious approach from Cllr Michael Ensor, also a county councillor, who said he was "neither definitely for, nor against the plans", but encouraged people to comment.

Cllr Lendon's 93-year-old father, Ronald Lendon MBE, told Bexhill to "have none of it", and remembered bad experiences of St Mary's Lane landfill when he was a Bexhill councillor 50 years ago.

Closing the meeting, Greg Barker said: "The town turned out in force tonight and sent one very clear message. We will not stand for a landfill site at Ashdown Brickworks and the people of Bexhill will fight this proposal every step of the way.""

BALI chairman Nick Hollington added: "BALI was very satisfied with the meeting overall, with such a vast range of speakers from different backgrounds and a great public response which humbled us and from which we take great encouragement.

"We hope that everybody will express their objections in the ESCC consultation and in letters to their councillors. In the latter respect, while some councillors came out strongly against the landfill, we would have liked to have seen more support from them and I trust this will be more forthcoming in the coming weeks."

Report on the Public Meeting 6th November 2009

Information about the Public Meeting and Links to the Minutes and other relevant articles.

Thank you to everyone who turned out in the rain and came along to the Public Meeting on 6th November, especially to those who were unable to get in to the meeting to hear the speakers but who wanted to have their say.

Thank you also to those who generously donated to the campaign at the meeting - the fantastic sum of £1,169 was raised.

Please read:
- BALI's minutes of the public meeting, and
- the speech notes from the meeting of Nick Hollington, Chairman of BALI.

Read the Bexhill Observer write up of the meeting.

Further news and developments will be published on this website as soon as possible.

In the meantime, please do make your views known via one of the ways set out below but importantly, please let East Sussex County Council know your views and objections.

---

 

How to Object To The Landfill Proposal

Your chance to let East Sussex County Council know what you think about their Preferred Strategy for Waste has been extended until 15th January 2010.

You can comment online at http://consult.eastsussex.gov.uk or submit comments by post to: Transport and Environment, East Sussex County Council, C4 Waste and Minerals Policy (AP), FREEPOST LW43, Lewes, BN7 1BE. For telephone enquiries the ESCC number is 01273 481846.

We have set out some Headline Comments on the relevant proposed Policies (and supporting paragraphs) which you may find informative and useful.

 

YOU CAN HELP IN MANY WAYS:

• Please read the Headline Comments on the relevant proposed Policies (and supporting paragraphs),
• Put your views to ESCC in the Consultation:
  
  • online here: http://consult.eastsussex.gov.uk, or
  • By Freepost to: Transport and Environment, East Sussex County Council, C4 Waste and Minerals Policy (AP), FREEPOST LW43, Lewes, BN7 1BE.
• Write to our MP, Greg Barker, who chaired the public meeting: details at www.gregorybarker.com,
• Write to your local District and County Councillors: details of your Councillors can be found on the:
  
  • Rother District Website: Councillors List
  • East Sussex County Website: Councillors List
• Join our BALI Committee to fight the dump or volunteer help us deliver leaflets, fundraise, etc.
• Donate to BALI's "Fighting Fund" to help cover our legal costs.

 

For further information contact BALI on 01424 843046, 01424 220109 or 01424 845688, or mobile 07814 895874, or write PO Box 194 Bexhill-on-Sea TN40 9BD.

You can also register your interest at www.gregorybarker.com or call the office on 01424 736861.

 

BALI Headline Comments on ESCC Preferred Strategy For Waste

Headline Comments on the relevant proposed Policies (& supporting paragraphs)
Waste & Minerals Policy, ESCC Preferred Strategy for Waste

(These comments are available for download in pdf format: Headline Comments: pdf)

Preferred Option Selection (section 12)

• Although the Preferred Option states here that there will be further investigations into the identified areas of search, we consider it is unfair that only Ashdown Brickworks is referred to specifically. It should be assessed together with all the other identified areas of search.
  
• Object to the complete paragraph which relates to Ashdown Brickworks as potentially suitable for landfill.
  
• The Preferred Option should only explain the way in which ESCC intend to select sites for land disposal of waste. This selection process is described in the Preferred Strategy as:-
  
  1. Identify and allocate Land Disposal Sites which are allocated avoiding water resources or 'valued environments' (adverse effects on the environment and on the community');
  2. Identify potential at existing disposal sites, or at mineral voids, avoiding water resources and 'valued landscapes';
  3. Allocate locations for land disposal sites for waste close to waste arisings, providing they satisfy the selection criteria.

 

Policy CS6 (6 'bullet points' in the 'Policy')(Section 12)

1. Ashdown Brickworks should not be included in the Primary Area of Search (Plan 4)

Ashdown Brickworks fails on both of the Council's key criteria for inclusion in the Primary Area of Search. It is within 500 metres of 'valued environments' such as areas of ecological importance. There are also concerns over the risk of water pollution and contamination of public water supplies.

If there is a need for a land disposal site for waste, there are several other sites which could be used. The Scott Wilson Report, which has been published as 'evidence base' for this Core Strategy, has stated that further detailed assessment of these areas is required. Until such work is carried out, Ashdown Brickworks should not be 'singled out' as a Preferred Option for waste disposal.

2. There will be an unacceptable impact on the environment

Ashdown Brickworks is very close to High Woods Site of Nature Conservation Interest. Also Little High Wood Site of Nature Conservation Interest is within the Ashdown brickworks site.

There are other potential risks to the ecology of the area, including harm to important breeding birds from scavenging birds, and potential adverse impacts to the ecology of ponds and woodland in the vicinity of the brickworks.

3. There would be cumulative adverse impacts on the Local Community. This harm would be greater than when the current Waste Local Plan was prepared.

As well as the inevitable adverse impact on the significant number of new homes within the vicinity of Ashdown brickworks, there is now also a new Bexhill High School for over 1600 pupils within 700 metres of the site. This will increase substantially the number of people either living, or at school, within 1500 metres of the site.

As well as the harm to the environment of the local residents and school children, there are a significant number of people who frequent the area in the vicinity of the brickworks for leisure purposes, such as members and guests at the High Woods Golf Club and those who enjoy the High Woods for woodland walks. Both of these locations are within 250 metres of the Ashdown brickworks site. Also, the Bexhill Cemetery, immediately to the east of the brickworks, could experience harm to its environment and particularly to its tranquility.

4. There is very poor vehicular access to the Ashdown Brickworks

The existing roads in the vicinity of Ashdown brickworks are totally unsuitable to service the use of Ashdown brickworks as a land disposal site.

In order for this site to be satisfactorily accessed by waste disposal vehicles, it would require the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road to be completed. This is currently programmed to open by the end of 2012, already 4 years later than planned. It would also require the construction of further roads in the area, as well as a new access into the site. This total infrastructure is very unlikely to be constructed for several years, if at all.

5. The availability of Ashdown brickworks for waste disposal by landfill is not confirmed

This Preferred Strategy, in Section 12, accepts that there are operational constraints to using the Ashdown brickworks site for landfill, and that its potential capacity for landfill together with its availability / timing would need to be established in more detail.

This uncertainty on the site's availability should lead the site selection process away from this site, for this reason alone, as the Preferred Strategy seeks a site which is available in the short-term. In the medium to long term there should be an increasing shift towards minimising waste; and disposing of waste in other more suitable ways, rather than through landfill.

Appendix A - Strategy for Implementation

Policy CS6 - Delete all References to Ashdown Brickworks

The Strategy for Implementation of land disposal facilities for residual waste should be based on the identification and allocation of suitable locations. These locations have not yet been agreed by East Sussex County Council or Brighton and Hove City Council. This is clearly stated in this Document (Section 12) and also in the Scott Wilson Land Disposal Area Identification Study October 2009. The specific references to Ashdown Brickworks in the 'Strategy for Implementation' is pre-judging the outcome of this Study.

Big Hitters take up the Rubbish Dump Fight

Bexhill Observer Article: Published Date: 6th November 2009

Campaigners against a massive rubbish dump off Turkey Road expect a capacity 300 gathering at a protest meeting tonight.

The meeting is being organised by BALI, the local action group.
It will be held at Bexhill High School, Gunters Lane, at 7pm.

MP Greg Barker will chair the meeting which will be opened by BALI campaigner Nick Hollington. The gathering will then be briefed by legal and planning experts as well as local councillors and resident's groups and local conservation and environmental groups.

BALI has distributed 4,000 leaflets in an effort to drum up support for the meeting.

Mr Hollington said "East Sussex County Council are sending top executives from their Waste Team to make a powerpoint presentation of their Waste Strategy and our BALI Consultant, Geoff Smith of DMH Stallard will be 'replying' and explaining how people can object to the landfill in the Consultation that has just started.

2Then we have some very good environmental speakers, perhaps especially the well-known Alan Malpass who believes a landfill will decimate the bird population and wildlife of the adjacent Highwoods, a much-treasured beauty spot and Site of Special Scientific Interest. The key councillors will speak - it is eventually their views and decisions that will count.

"Finally we have an interesting 'double-act' of Ron Lendon MBE, a former Bexhill councillor who was instrumental in closing the St. Mary's Lane landfill in the 1960's, followed by his son, Cllr. Paul Lendon who, following his father's footsteps, is now opposing a landfill at Ashdown.

"Questions and speeches from the floor will take place at various stages and I expect a lot of local people will wish to give their views."

Other speakers will include Brian Storkey of Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism and Stuart Earl of Little Common Business Association.

Mr Barker said "I hope that there will be a really good turnout for this important meeting. A huge landfill site at the Ashdown Brickworks would have huge and very negative implications for the whole town, not just nearby local residents.

But to fight this, we must form the widest possible coalition and engage positively in the process.

"The team at BALI have worked incredibly hard in recent years but now they need more help."

Read the original article on the Bexhill Observer website.

Ashdown Brickworks is first choice for a vast new landfill site

Article By Ben Higgins: Published Date: 01 October 2009
Bexhill Observer October 2nd 2009

East Sussex County Council named the Turkey Road excavation as their preferred choice in a 133 page document released this week outlining their core strategy for waste production in Brighton and Hove and East Sussex until 2026.

At a meeting last Wednesday, ESCC Cabinet approved a planning timescale which sees applications discussed next year and work beginning in 2012.

Key local figures reacted swiftly to the news, with local MP Greg Barker calling a public meeting to launch a campaign against the proposals.

Nick Hollington, chair of the Bexhill Against Landfill Incineration group, labelled plans: "a pernicious proposal with a devastating effect on the whole town of Bexhill."

Rother District Council also oppose the plans. In a meeting on Monday, Nick asked Leader of the Council Carl Maynard if he recognised "the egregious effect such a landfill, if implemented, would have on the town of Bexhill and that it would set back, if not nullify, the Council's efforts to achieve its regeneration?"

Cllr Maynard responded, saying: "Rother District Council had consistently and fundamentally opposed the inclusion of the land at Pebsham and Ashdown Brickworks in the Waste Local Plan."

The relevant section of the waste plan reads, under the Preferred Option Selection heading: "The Waste Local Plan currently allocates Ashdown Brickworks as potentially suitable for Landfill."

"Ashdown Brickworks offers a substantial mineral void close to one of the major urban areas of waste arisings in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove."

Having been cleared by ESCC, the strategy now looks set for approval by Brighton and Hove City Council on October 15.

A six week period of public consultation will follow.

From October 21 to December 2, organisations such as BALI and Rother District Council, as well as members of the public, have the opportunity to submit their views. Details of how to contribute to the consultation will appear from October 21 2009 at an ESCC subsite: consult.eastsussex.gov.uk

Depending on levels of waste growth, it is estimated that between 34 and 37 million tonnes of waste will be produced by East Sussex and Brighton and Hove between 2011 and 2027.

With recycling taken into account, and the work of a new incinerator planned to open in Newhaven in 2012, the final figure for waste pumped into the new landfill by 2026 is estimated at 4.5million tonnes.

There are currently no restrictions on the type of waste that would be dumped.

The strategy does indicate other areas that could be considered, mostly around Uckfield and Lewes, but Ashdown Brickworks is the only confirmed specific option.

Nick Hollington, who will represent BALI in a consultation meeting with ESCC on November 5, said: "I think they are only going to look elsewhere if Ashdown is turned down as a location. If, as we hope to do, we come up with reasons why Ashdown is unacceptable. Then they will look at these areas of search."

BALI will argue the landfill will create an unacceptable impact on the local environment and communities.

Supporting this, members may mention the estimated 4,000 residents of west Bexhill living within one mile of the site, the flagship new High School half a mile away, the adjacent Bexhill Cemetery, and nearby Highwoods Nature Reserve, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.

They will also argue the site cannot be delivered within the short time-frame required by ESCC.

Nick said: "The news is extremely serious and a wake-up call to the people of Bexhill, some of whom have doubted that the threat of a landfill was real. It's staring us in the face now, but if we can all get together to fight this monstrous plan we can defeat it. But we must act now."

Hundreds of residents attended a similar public meeting organised by Greg Barker in 2002 when the threat of a Bexhill Landfill first became apparent.

That meeting lead to the creation of BALI, and the two offices have now joined forces with local councillors and environmental groups to spearhead a renewed campaign.

Greg said: "A landfill site of this size and in this location would be an absolute disaster for so many reasons, and of course all the waste disposal methods, landfill and the dangerous methane gases it creates has the very worst impact on climate change.

"I want to head this off at the pass and ensure that such a proposal never comes to fruition in Bexhill, be it in five years time or twenty years time.

"Thankfully for the town the BALI committee has been quietly working very hard indeed over this period but we cannot now leave this fight all to them.

"We need to back BALI with a strong and cross-party campaign, a broad alliance of groups. Communities and individuals need to come together right across the town."

John Heasman, Vice Chair of Bexhill Labour Party and a committee member of the preservation society for nearby Highwoods Nature Reserve, said: "I am appalled that this site should even be considered for landfill with non-inert waste.
"Opening this site would cause considerable extra vehicle movements, including heavy lorries, that would be stressful to local residents and impact negatively on the well being of local communities.

"The dumping of non-inert waste so close to Highwoods would also have a catastrophic effect on the ecology of a valuable recreational area which is enjoyed by many Bexhill residents.

"I give my full support to BALI on this issue."

---

The public meeting will be chaired by Greg Barker at **Bexhill High School, Gunters Lane, Bexhill on Friday, November 6 at 7pm. [**Note that this venue is a change from that originally published]

Greg said: ""I hope as many people as possible will come. It would be extremely helpful if we had an idea of how many to expect, as it is possible we may need a bigger venue, so I would be very grateful if people could either register their intention to come on my website or call my office on 01424 736861."

For information or to register interest, visit www.gregorybarker.com

See the original article on the Bexhill Observer website

Update on Planning, Transport & Other Issues at Ashdown Brickworks

1. The Need for Landfill All landfill sites in East Sussex are now full with the exception of Pebsham, which has been granted a four year extension to infill its Northern Quadrant. While there has been a significant decline in waste arisings through recycling, over 60% of East Sussex waste is still disposed to land.
2. ESCC Waste & Mineral Development Framework Next month (October), East Sussex County Council (ESCC) will publish its 'Preferred Strategy' for Waste Disposal in the county. This is the most crucial stage in its longrunning Waste and Mineral Development Framework (WMDF) process which will decide how waste is handled during the period until 2026.This process will probably complete in 2011 and, if passed by Council, will replace the current Waste Local Plan (WLP) that identifies Ashdown as the only site for landfill in East Sussex (although this plan is no longer 'saved').
   Despite the WMDF recognizing that the landfilling of waste is the least acceptable method of its disposal, and despite the framework process supposedly involving a fresh selection of transfer and disposal sites, it is 99% certain that Ashdown will be identified as a 'Strategic Location' for the landfilling of waste in the Preferred Strategy. This has been confirmed directly to BALI (orally) by Tony Cook, Head of ESCC's Waste Team and is largely due to its current position in the WLP.
   While there is a further stage in the WMDF of 'Site Selection' it is inconceivable that, if Ashdown is identified as a Strategic Location for landfill in the Preferred Strategy, it will not be selected for landfill in the final plan.
   This is an extremely dangerous situation for BALI and Bexhill. As a result BALI has re-engaged its planning lawyers to make submissions on its behalf in the consultation that will follow the publication of the Preferred Strategy. We will argue that 'circumstances have changed' since the Waste Local Plan that make Ashdown no longer suitable for landfill, also that it is not deliverable in the time-frame required. For these and other (environmental etc.) reasons, an appointment of Ashdown as a landfill site would be 'unsound'. (For further information on BALI's case please see the further document 'Update on BALI's Activities to Fight the Proposed Landfill.)
3. The Newhaven Incinerator is currently being constructed with a large capacity sufficient to handle most of the county's residual waste. It would be a great relief to BALI and the people of Bexhill if, as local Councillor Brian Gadd argues, this incinerator could handle our entire waste disposal. However, BALI has studied this issue closely and concluded this is unlikely to be possible in the medium term. Moreover, such a view ignores the problems of waste that cannot be incinerated, the unrecovered metals and the bottom ash produced by incineration which may amount to 25-30% of the waste burnt. The facts on this issue will likely become clear in October when ESCC publishes its Preferred Strategy.
4. London Waste. There is also the question of 1.8 million tonnes of London Waste required to be accepted and disposed of to land by ESCC during the period until 2026 under the South East Plan, finally passed by government earlier this year. However, there are High Court challenges to the plan and the Conservative Party, if elected at the next General Election, may abolish it. Also the Mayor of London has announced in his latest environmental proposals ('Leading to a Greener London') that he wishes to end the practice of exporting waste to the South East. He notes, however, that this 'cannot be done overnight' and will inevitably involve a transition period.
   BALI's view is that it is still probable that East Sussex will be required to receive substantial quantities of London waste. Surprisingly, however, Stephen Hardy of Ibstock Brick Ltd., the owners of the Ashdown site has told BALI that the company will not be prepared to receive London Waste at Ashdown!
5. The role of Ibstock. BALI continues to hold regular meetings with Ibstock and there is no change in their intention to eventually landfill the site on which basis, earlier this year, they unsuccessfully fought in the High Court Rother District Council’s decision to grant itself outline planning permission to extend Bexhill Cemetery into an adjoining field. They also have refused BALI's request to restrict waste landfilled at the site to inert waste as opposed to organic, putrescible waste.
   Ibstock has been hard-hit by the decline in construction during the recession and have closed 5 plants in the past year. Ashdown has often been working on short-time. This is likely to bring forward their plans to landfill the site and they have admitted that discussions on this issue are now taking place at senior level.
   The decline in brick-making works two ways however: the 'holes' are not getting bigger  and to 'open them up' may be costly beyond Ibstock's means at the present time. (However any Waste Contractor to whom Ibstock grants 'landfill rights' at Ashdown might well contribute).
6. The Ashdown Site It is essential to understand that there are two ‘holes’ at the Ashdown site and the plan is to empty one and start landfilling it while continuing to extract clay from the other. (There are probably 30 years of clay extraction left at the site.) To do this Ibstock need to stockpile clay on fairly adjacent land and BALI believes they may be in the process of acquiring land for this purpose, perhaps in the '4 fields' to the east of the quarry owned by Mayo Land Ltd.
7. Transport Links The enormous problem remains of transport access to the site, which currently is insufficient to enable substantial landfill usage. If the Link Road goes ahead, this will only partly resolve the problem. Two further roads are required:
   
   1. A spur road off the Link Road to the A269. This road, entitled the Country Avenue appears in the RDC Local Plan and in ESCC Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 (as a longer-term scheme) but it does not go as far as the A269.
   2. A purpose- built road from the A269 to the Ashdown Site or the continuation of the Country Avenue across the A269 to the site. (This latter suggestion appears in the recent RDC Local Development Framework – Core Strategy.)
   That eventually such roads could be achieved is not doubted, but whether they can be achieved in the time-frame required for Ashdown to be a viable landfill site in the medium term is open to question. However planners tend often to ignore practical realities in favour of paper solutions to the problems they have to deal with.
   

Nick Hollington

Chairman, BALI

September 2009

The Landfill Threat Becomes Real

East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and Brighton and Hove City Council have finally confirmed their plan to use Ashdown Brickworks in Turkey Road, Bexhill for a massive landfill of residual waste starting as early as 2012.

Ashdown the 'Preferred Option'

In their recently published Preferred Strategy for the handling of waste in the County until 2026, ESCC have designated the Ashdown Site as their "Preferred Option" for the landfilling of waste and hope to start a Planning Application next year to complete by the end of 2011. The Strategy was approved by ESCC Cabinet last Wednesday.

The Next Public Consultation

The Strategy does list some possible alternative sites however, and there will be a period of Public Consultation from 21st October to 2nd December this year before Ashdown is definitively selected. Rother District Council, BALI (Bexhill Against Landfill and Incineration) and other local organizations will be making submissions in this consultation and the public will also be invited to give their views.

Despite greater recycling, 60% of the area's approximate 2 million tonnes of waste is still disposed to landfill. Although the Incinerator being built at Newhaven (estimated to start 2012) will be able to burn most of our domestic waste and recover energy from it, landfill will still be needed for other types of waste (e.g. construction and demolition waste) and the bottom ash left after incineration, which can be as much as 25% of the waste burnt. About 4.5 million tonnes of landfill will be needed up to 2026. Most of that is planned for Ashdown as all other landfill sites are closed or (Pebsham) in the process of closure.

BALI is meeting with our local MP, Councillors, environmental groups and other stakeholders to try to co-ordinate a campaign to oppose what they see as a pernicious proposal that would have a devastating effect on the whole town of Bexhill, setting back the Council's plan for its regeneration and likely to lower house prices throughout the town.

Effects on the Community

The community of West Bexhill would be particularly affected if the plan goes through, with an estimated four thousand residents living within a mile of the site. Potential effects of the landfill would include visual impact, odours, pests, noise, dust and litter as well as concerns about public health. Significant daily HGV waste-truck movements would affect a wider area, depending on the routes chosen, but potentially having similar effects and causing traffic congestion.

Several local amenities and their users would be egregiously affected, most importantly the flagship new Bexhill High School being constructed for 1800 young people less than half-a-mile away. Users of the Bexhill Cemetery only 250 metres away (less if the cemetery is extended as planned) would overlook the dump, as would the golfers of Highwoods Golf Club. Arguably worst affected of all would be the much-frequented Highwoods nature reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, whose wildlife would be decimated: birds simply would not nest.

BALI's latest action

In April this year, in anticipation of this decision, BALI re-engaged its prominent legal planning consultant to make a strong case that the choice of Ashdown for landfill is entirely unsound. This case is now ready to submit. Such legal work is, of course, costly and has only proved possible through the generous donations of its supporters and the hard work of its fundraising team.

BALI's case

BALI's case is twofold. Firstly it argues that the effects of a landfill in this location are simply too great. According to Government planning policy, the County Council must clearly demonstrate, in allocating any land for such purposes, that "there is no unacceptable impact on the environment and on communities". BALI will seek to prove that, given the proximity of so many homes and local amenities and so much ancient woodland with unique flora and fauna, the impact will be totally unacceptable.

It will also argue that the choice of Ashdown as the County's landfill site is, in planning terms, "unsafe", in that it cannot be "delivered" (made ready) in the time-frame required by the County Council. The Council needs landfill in the short term to meet an immediate and increasing shortfall in capacity. It is unlikely, however, that Ashdown could be able to receive substantial quantities of waste for some years.

When Ashdown was originally considered as a landfill site it was well-established that there would first need to be created a whole new transport infrastructure as the present access roads (Pear Tree Lane and Turkey Road) are clearly unsuitable. This would consist of the Link Road, a so-called "Country Avenue" spurring off it to the A269, and a purpose-built access road from the A269 to the site. The Link Road, however, if constructed at all, will not be ready until 2012 at the latest and the other roads are at present not even on the drawing board.

It is also not clear that the Ashdown quarries, owned by Ibstock Brick Ltd., have the potential capacity in the short term to receive substantial waste. There are two quarries where they plan to deposit waste in one while continuing to extract clay from the other. However the hole they plan to use for waste is by no means empty and they would need to stockpile clay on nearby land.

Rother District Council

BALI is hoping that Rother District Council will also make a strong case against the proposed landfill, using their substantial planning and legal resources and expertise. While they do not make the final decision, their views as a key stakeholder could be very influential, if not decisive.

 

Greg Barker MP

BALI has already held an urgent meeting with local MP Gregory Barker, who has always been firmly opposed to a landfill at Ashdown and, indeed, was instrumental in forming BALI some years ago. He has assured BALI of his firm support. A campaign will shortly be launched asking local residents and Councillors of all parties to unite against the move, culminating in a Public Meeting which Mr. Barker has agreed to Chair [To be held on Friday 7th November 2009 at 7.00 pm, venue Bexhill High School, Gunters Lane, Bexhill - please come along].

 

Defeat This Monstrous Plan

BALI genuinely believes that the proposal can still be defeated.  "The news is extremely serious and a wake-up call to the people of Bexhill, some of whom have doubted that the threat of a landfill was real", says Nick Hollington, Chairman of BALI. "It's staring us in the face now, but if we can all get together to fight this monstrous plan we can defeat it. But we must act NOW!"

It is hoped that, if the landfill proposal is defeated, work can begin on a plan for eventually restoring the quarries for community use in cooperation with Ibstock. BALI wants them to form part of a "nature reserve" incorporating the Highwoods and surrounding farmland. In this respect, earlier this year BALI made a formal proposal to Rother District Council’s Local Development Framework of a "West Bexhill Countryside Park" similar to that now being created in the Pebsham area. This proposal has now been formally registered.

But first the landfill proposal must be defeated and BALI is calling upon all local residents to write to their local Councillors expressing their views and asking them what they are doing to oppose the plan. 

BALI Chairman Newsletter - September 2009

1. East Sussex County Council (ESCC) has been working since 2006 on its Waste and Minerals Development Framework (WMDF) which will decide how waste is handled in the County until 2026, replacing the Waste Local Plan. BALI has made submissions in the consultations at each stage of the process, this work having been carried out by the Chairman in order to conserve BALI's funds;
2. BALI keeps in close touch with the Waste team at ESCC and in March this year learnt that Ashdown was likely be identified as a 'Strategic Location' for landfill in the Council's Preferred Strategy for Waste, as part of the WMDF. Such a move by ESCC was considered beyond the scope of BALI members to respond to and it decided to re-engage its planning lawyers, DMH Stallard, to:
   
   1. Review our case, looking at all the past documents, correspondence and other data concerning Ashdown, particularly the huge number of documents involved in preparing the Waste Local Plan and the case against an Ashdown landfill by our previous consultant at the Public Inquiry,
   2. Prepare a Strategy for the Objections to Landfill at Ashdown Brickworks. (See Appendix 1).This report was given to BALI in June and our Consultant (Geoff Smith) came to Bexhill to discuss it with us and advise us as to the next steps to take,
3. The main threads of BALI's argument as to why the identification of Ashdown as a landfill site 'this time round' is unsound are that:
   
   1. 'Circumstances have changed' since the Waste Local Plan was adopted in February 2006, notably in national and EU policy regarding landfill, also locally in the increased adverse effect on local amenities, particularly the development of the new Bexhill High School less than half a mile away.
   2. 'An Ashdown landfill could not be delivered in the time-frame required'. Landfill in East Sussex is required in the short and medium term since all landfill sites have already or are shortly closing.(In the longer term less and less landfill will be required.) Ashdown is unlikely to be deliverable for landfill even in the medium term for many reasons. In particular, suitable transport access is unlikely to be available, depending as it does on 3 roads, none of which are yet built and 2 of which are not yet even at the planning stage,
   3. Because Ashdown will not be deliverable in the time-frame required, our Consultant will insist that other sites particularly those suggested for landfill at early stages of the Waste Local Plan, be brought (back) into consideration. We will insist that ESCC hold an objective, transparent, site-selection process,
4. Of course, all other arguments developed by BALI over the years: environmental, effect on local residents, on local amenities - and particularly on the treasured Highwoods - will continue to play a part in our case.
5. Geoff Smith recommended in his report that we instruct him to proceed to further steps as follows and we have instructed him accordingly:
   
   1. To prepare an 'evidence base' largely focusing on the change of circumstances since the Waste Local Plan Inquiry,
   2. To make submissions on the Preferred Strategy of the WMDF when published for consultation in October,
   3. This latter task represents our best chance of getting out of the new Waste Framework, and if successful, we can all relax. If we do not succeed in this, Ashdown will almost certainly be included in the WMDF and there will likely be a Planning Application to use Ashdown for landfill in the not-so-distant (2012?) future.
6. The cost of this legal work has been, of course, substantial. However, we have every confidence in our Consultant, Geoff Smith, who was the man who succeeded in removing the proposed Mountfield Incinerator from the Waste Local Plan. Thanks to our hard-working fundraising team and the generosity of our supporters, we have built up a substantial war-chest of funds. However the chest is not bottomless and we may need to raise further funds if we do not succeed in our present attempt to remove Ashdown Brickworks from the WMDF.
7. We are not actively fundraising or publicising our cause at the present time. We are convinced that when the WMDF Preferred Strategy is published in October the threat of a new landfill in Bexhill will become clear. At this point we will raise a high-profile publicity campaign and resume our fundraising on the back of it.
8. BALI continues to meet with Ibstock on a regular basis, the latest meeting taking place on 30th June 2009. The meetings are amicable and informative and attended by senior Ibstock staff, including the Company Secretary Stephen Hardy. Various BALI members attend. We also arrange visits to the site for our members accompanied by the friendly site Manager Steve Chapman. Ibstock also have made and are making submissions to the WMDF and we have asked them to let us have sight of them.
9. Earlier this year, BALI made various representations in respect of the Ashdown area to Rother District Council's Local Development Framework - Core Strategy in the 'Consultation on Strategic Directions'.
10. 1. We particularly objected to the reference to an extension of the 'Country
       Avenue' from the Link Road across the A269 to 'provide the infrastructure essential to the planned landfill use of the Ibstock site'. This statement, we argued, prejudices the results of the County's WMDF nor is such an extension included in any ESCC Transport plan.
    2. We furthermore proposed the creation of a West Bexhill Countryside Park incorporating the Highwoods, the Ashdown Quarries and the surrounding farmland, analogous and complementary to the Pebsham Countryside Park being created in East Bexhill.
    All BALI's objections and proposals have been registered by RDC and appear on their LDF website.
11. We have developed a website at www.nolandfillatbexhill.org
12. BALI continues to receive heartening support from the local public and from various local groups e.g. the Highwoods Preservation Society and the Rother Environmental Group. Also from local amenities that would be seriously affected by a landfill, for example Highwoods Golf Club, which hosts our meetings and provides copying facilities, etc.
13. BALI enjoys and much appreciates the unwavering support of our MP Greg Barker, whom we consult regularly. We understand he is planning, at a suitable moment, to use his regular local newspaper column to support our campaign.
14. BALI continues to seek further political support, which our Consultant advises should accompany any legal action if we are to achieve success. We particularly need support from our County and District Councillors which is lacking at the present time. (We have sadly lost firm supporters such as Graham Gubby, Ron Dyason and Stuart Earl). At the present time most Councillors, with significant exceptions (e.g. Cllr Martyn Forster), seem to doubt there is any longer a real threat of a new landfill in Bexhill. We believe that the publication of the Council's Preferred Strategy for Waste in October will show all too clearly the current threat and BALI will then make a fresh effort to enlist more Councillor support for our cause. It goes without saying that BALI is an apolitical organization with members and supporters from all political parties and we welcome support from whatever quarter.
15. BALI plans to shortly hold meetings with Mathew Lock, Lead Member, Transport and Environment, East Sussex County Council and Rupert Chubb, the Director of T&E. These have both made the statement that 'burying waste in the ground is no longer an option' and we seek to understand what this means and why it would not apply to Ashdown Brickworks. They will also have the latest information on the capacity of the Newhaven Incinerator and the proposed new roads.
16. BALI also seeks help and support to make and suggest realistic plans to alternatively restore the Ashdown Quarry site once excavated. We have no expertise in this matter and urgently seek such. As stated, we have suggested to RDC that it form part of a West Bexhill Countryside Park incorporating the Highwoods and surrounding farmland, but we have no idea how to develop this proposal further. It is naive to suggest to Ibstock, owned by a huge American conglomerate, that their quarries simply become a 'nature reserve'. They view them quite properly as a valuable company asset and seek to protect their commercial position. For whatever is suggested a commercial case must be made.
    There is also a difficult question to face. We talk of 'landfill' as 'bad', but the Ashdown holes will have to at least part filled with something in order to restore them. As regards filling them with water we are told the site is too small for a reservoir, nor could they become a leisure lake for boating etc. unless at least half-filled with land.
17. BALI continues to follow developments in national policy on waste, waste planning in other counties and planning applications for landfill sites elsewhere, sometimes liaising with their protest groups. There has been a particularly high number of applications in West Sussex and a high-profile political campaign by their MPs and Councillors against such applications. There is a particular relevant planning application to BALI, currently out for consultation, at Laybrook, near Thakeham. This is an Ibstock Quarry, like Ashdown, and we are following developments there closely.

Nick Hollington
BALI Chairman
September 2009

BALI Campaign Update September 2009

It has become crystal clear from evidence we cannot divulge that East Sussex County Council (ESCC) are currently and actively considering Ibstock's Ashdown quarries as a landfill site despite the dire consequences this will entail for our local residents and our beloved Highwoods.

 

All will be revealed in October, when ESCC will publish its 'Preferred Strategy' for waste as part of its "Waste and Minerals Development Framework" (WMDF). The Ashdown quarries will almost certainly be selected as a "Strategic Location" for the landfilling of East Sussex waste and the waste due to come from London under the South East Plan.

 

During the recent elections, Cllr. Gadd called the rumours of a landfill at Ashdown 'rubbish' and claimed that the incinerator being built at Newhaven will be able to handle all our (and London's) waste. BALI does not believe this for many reasons. Just one example is that certain types of waste (e.g. metals) cannot be incinerated and the bottom ash (or 'fly ash') remaining after incineration can amount to 25-30% of the waste burnt. All this has to be landfilled unless other means of disposal are found.

 

We are not standing idly by and will fight any proposals to landfill waste at Ashdown all the way. In anticipation of 'bad news' in October, we have reengaged our lawyers (DHM Stallard) to digest all the previous (voluminous) material regarding Ashdown and to recommend a plan of action. They have now done this and will proceed to make a case in response to the forthcoming proposals arguing that the site should be excluded from the WMDF for a whole host of reasons - unfortunately too detailed to go into here.

 

All this legal action is necessary, but expensive, and we are grateful for the generous donations made by BALI supporters hitherto. Following the last Highwoods news letter we had an anonymous gift of £200 for which we would like to thank the donor. If you would be willing to donate, would like more information about BALI or would like to help in any way, please phone me on 01424 843046.

 

Nick Hollington
Chairman B.A.L.I (Bexhill Against Landfill and Incineration)

 

PS:  One thing we'd like to develop is a positive plan for the Ashdown quarry for the future which excludes the landfilling of organic waste. We have suggested to Rother District Council as part of their Local Development Framework that they consider a "West Bexhill Country Park" including the quarries, the Highwoods and the lovely adjoining countryside. However we don't have the expertise to practically develop this project. Can you help - or do you know anyone who can?

Newhaven Incinerator Go Ahead - can it handle all our waste?

What's the latest news?

The incinerator is now being constructed. Last year ESCC gave Veolia, who have a 25 year waste management contract with the council, planning permission approval to develop an 'Energy Recovery Facility' (they don't call it an incinerator!) at North Quay, but the local pressure group, DOVE, held up commencement of the works through various legal challenges, the last of which failed last November. However, DOVE continued to oppose the issue of a Pollution Prevention and Control Permit (PPE) by the Environment Agency, but this was finally issued on 13th March 2009.

Is the incinerator important?

It is crucial. Currently, most East Sussex waste still ends up in landfill, but there are only two sites left in East Sussex and these are to close shortly. They are Beddingham (Viridor), due to close this year, and Pebsham (BIFFA), mostly due to close this year, though landfilling of the northern infill will continue till 2013. Once these sites close, without the incinerator there would be no significant waste disposal facility in East Sussex. If the incinerator had been refused planning permission it is certain there would have been greater pressure to create a landfill site at Ashdown.

Technical Information: Extract from the ESCC Planning Committee notes

4.2 The proposed ERF will be a twin stream plant, with a theoretical maximum throughput of 242,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). It has been designed to operate at 85% of this capacity to allow for essential maintenance requirements, so the plant's actual operating capacity is estimated to be 210,000 tpa or 28 tonnes per hour (tph).

4.3 The ERF plant itself will operate continuously, except for maintenance or emergencies, but deliveries will only take place from 0700 - 1730 on Mondays to Fridays and 0800 - 1500 on Saturdays; occasional deliveries will take place outside these hours. Planned maintenance will take place twice annually, once for one week and once for two weeks, which would allow one stream to continue operations to treat directly delivered waste only.

4.4 With a throughput of 210,000 tonnes of waste treated annually, the process will be likely to generate 52,900 tpa of bottom ash from the combustion process, and 8,400 tpa of recovered ferrous metals. This represents 25% of the waste input by tonnage and 10% by volume. The applicant states that options for processing bottom ash for use as an aggregate are under consideration.

Also heat energy in the form of steam will be collected and used to generate 16.5 megawatts of electricity enough to provide for 25,000 homes.

Can it handle all our waste?

The maximum amount of waste the incinerator could handle is 245,000 tonnes per annum. East Sussex waste currently amounts to 400,000tpa, however it is estimated that with increased recycling, this might be reduced to 250,000tpa by 2012. So, yes, it just might, but the recycling target might be over optimistic. Secondly, there the matter of 'bottom ash' or 'fly ash' from the scrubbers, and the recovered metals. They will need to be found a home.

What is certain is that it couldn't handle London waste as well!

Under the South East Plan, East Sussex is due to take 1.6 million tonnes of London waste over the period till 2026. It is impossible that the incinerator could handle this as well as our own waste.

Is incineration a safe way of disposing of waste?

There is a lot of disagreement on this issue, but the main 'experts' say that modern technology makes incineration far safer than previously, with tight control emissions. According to the Environment Agency, the new permit (PPC) sets strict conditions governing the operation of the incinerator, measuring any pollution to ensure that public health and the environment are protected.

BALI - Still in Business?

Friends of B.A.L.I.

Perhaps you are asking – is B.A.L.I. still in business – if so what are they doing? Or have they run off with our money and all our accrued interest!? Let's answer the easy questions first.

No, we have not run off with your precious savings; your money is still safe and sound in the Yorkshire Building Society - and perhaps we should gloss over the subject of the huge sums of interest you are earning from your investments! However, B.A.L.I. would like to thank all of you who have stayed with us and given so generously over the years because you feel our town is worth fighting for and you refuse to accept that it could be blighted by a landfill site for the next 30 years.

So what have we been doing? Our fund raising efforts continue. To date we have raised £23,000 for the War Chest; this money is 'ring fenced' and will only be used to fight any planning application. The 'every day' fund stands at £8,000, and is augmented by the weekly bonus ball lottery; (there are still a few 'lucky numbers' available! Please phone 845688 if you would like to join in the fun).

Our Solicitors (Stallards) continue to keep B.A.L.I. informed of any developments re. landfill issues, on which we act if necessary.

B.A.L.I. meets every 6 months with the Manager and Company Secretary of Ibstocks. We hope these frank discussions keep us in the picture regarding changes of use of the brick works site.

We are members of the Rother Environmental Group who meet monthly; we also take a keen interest in the Highwood Preservation Society. Our website is out of date. From now on it will be up dated monthly with new and relevant information.

Hope to see some of you through the spring and summer months – we accept that trying to raise funds in this period of recession is going to prove very difficult. However, let's keep up the good fight.

Mike Rosner (B.A.L.I.)

Letter published in the Bexhill Observer March 20th 2009

BALI Chairman Newsletter - March 2009 (2)

BALI Chairman Newsletter - March 2009 (continued)

Recently, we had good news that the Bexhill Cemetery is to be extended, despite Ibstock's objections and appeals, into the 'four fields' that were claimed to be needed by Ibstock for stockpiling of clay in the event of a landfill. But, reading Ibstock's barrister's case, as BALI was privileged to do, you realise how strongly Ibstock still want to keep an option to landfill their Ashdown site. So they might appeal, or buy other fields, or cope with excess clay in some other ways, given they have strong intention to use Ashdown one day for landfill. I don't think for one minute that they have got together and said 'Well that's it then, we won't have a landfill at Ashdown'. It's far too important to them.

An then, almost out of the blue, reading Rother District's latest Local Development Framework document, I came across a section which, in line with the WLP's vision for the Ashdown site, proposed a 'country avenue' from the Link Road, across the A269 to 'provide the infrastructure essential to the planned landfill use of the Ibstock site'. Clearly, Rother District Council hasn't forgotten about a landfill at Ashdown!

Neither have East Sussex County Council, but they are being more objective in their consideration of future waste disposal in the county than previously. They are looking in the Waste and Mineral Development Framework to reduce landfill as much as possible and they will set about a 'fresh' selection of sites, even including sites that were previously rejected in the Waste Local Plan. But Ashdown will certainly be in the frame; that is clear, especially if the South East Plan is approved(as I believe it will) requiring East Sussex to accept for disposal 1.6 million tonnes of London waste over the period till 2026. The new Newhaven Incinerator will certainly not be able to cope with that as well as East Sussex waste.

I have been working hard these past six months making representations on behalf of BALI to all these plans and frameworks and liaising constantly with all the relevant bodies and key players. We have also been meeting with Ibstock in a good atmosphere, believing that engagement with them does not represent any endorsement of their plans. We must be careful however, that we are not in any sense 'soft-soaped'.

That there is still no 'big news'- of a planning application for instance - lulls most Bexhillians understandably into a false sense of security regarding the Ashdown site. BALI has however, tried not to do much publicity for our cause in the past six months as it were to wake people up. We don't believe it's our role to 'hype up' our case when there is no firm news. It could be counter productive.

However, I believe that in the next six months, something 'big' will break and the media will take it up, quite likely in a major way. The South East Plan will likely be approved and there will be focused attention in the media on where the projected London waste will go. The ESCC Waste and Minerals Development Framework will reach the stage of 'Strategic Site Allocation' and possibly 'site selection', bringing landfill at the Ashdown site up for attention in the same way as previously did the Waste Local Plan. Against this background, Ibstock, faced with declining orders for bricks, might get an offer from a waste contractor that it simply cannot refuse.

When we get wind of something important happening, or certainly at the next stage of the WMDF, we will re-engage our legal consultant, Geoff Smith of DMH Stallard to represent us, utilising the funds my colleagues have raised and we have safeguarded for the important fight I am convinced still lies ahead to prevent the devastation that would be caused to the whole of Bexhill by a new landfill in the Ashdown quarries.

To successfully fight a landfill, we will need planning and environmental experts, and, of course, lawyers. These cost money. Without the funds raised by Mike Rosner and his team we couldn't afford to hire them and therefore would have no chance of winning. Even so, we will have a long hard fight on our hands and probably more funds - and certainly more volunteers - will be needed. But this report should end with a big thank you to all those who have raised funds and those who have donated money to our cause, without which we wouldn't be able to move forward in our campaign at all.

Nick Hollington

Chairman BALI

March 2009

BALI Chairman Newsletter - March 2009 (1)

For me, these past six months as Chairman of BALI have been busy, yet the ordinary Bexhillian could be forgiven for thinking that not much has happened regarding the proposed landfill at Ibstock's Ashdown Brickworks. This is implied because nothing much has been "in the news".
One should remember at these times, and I am always conscious of, the facts that simply don't go away. These are as follows:

1. the Ashdown quarries are large holes in the ground; there are very few of those in East Sussex. They are of huge commercial value.
2. The tendency has been, and still largely is, to use such holes for the landfilling of waste. (Those not so used are Eden-project type exceptions, often because they are 'wrong' for such uses, being chalk pits and / or with risk to ground water.
3. Ibstock is a company which has tended to use its excavated quarries mostly for landfill. It's probably the best and easiest way to bring profit to their shareholders.
4. Landfill in East Sussex is fast running out, with its only two sites left, Beddingham and Pebsham, which are shortly to close.
5. Recycling locally has been greatly increased but 60% of East Sussex waste is still disposed of by landfill.
6. The incinerator at Newhaven will probably not be able to cope with all of East Sussex's waste and certainly not if London waste is sent here as is envisaged in the South East Plan.
7. (Probably most importantly) The Ashdown site has been allocated for the landfilling of waste in the ESCC Waste Local Plan. It is the only such site allocated for landfill in East Sussex.

Ashdown Brickworks site pitcured left:
top) looking west and
below) looking east.

Since the ESCC Waste Local Plan allocated Ashdown for landfill in a sense we have been lucky. Firstly, that the proposal to use Ashdown for landfill hit the time of the 'green revolution' where landfill started to be and is increasingly regarded as the least acceptable way of disposing of waste, largely because of its methane emissions. So there has been a great emphasis both on recycling, which has increased greatly, and on incineration and other means of waste disposal.

Secondly, almost as soon as the Waste Local Plan was passed in February 2006 it became outmoded and work began on a new 'Waste and Minerals Development Framework' for East Sussex, allowing a renewed consideration of the disposal of waste in the county and a fresh selection of suitable sites - though not entirely fresh, as I have recently found out. This process has ground on for several years now and is still incomplete.
Finally, the Link Road has taken much more time than expected to be approved and is, even as I write, still not 100% certain to be built. The biggest disadvantage of the Ashdown Site, as recognised by the Waste Local Plan Inspector, was/ is the transport access and there have not been the developments in the transport infrastructure that were envisaged as necessary at the time of the Waste Local Plan.
But things being slow, or us being so far lucky, does not mean that the prospect of an Ashdown landfill has receded one iota and many times over the past six months I have been reminded that a landfill at Ashdown is still very much in the minds of those who have the power to effect it.

Rother's Local Development Framework

Rother's Local Development Framework (LDF) proposes a "country avenue" leading to an Ashdown Landfill

Background

In November 2008, Rother District Council published its 'Consultation on Strategy Directions' document, the latest stage in the preparation of new 'Core Strategy' that will guide future development and change in Rother District until 2026.

This is part of the Local Development Framework, a series of documents representing a new planning system throughout England and Wales which is designed to involve local communities in providing a policy framework for planning decisions. The Statement of Community Involvement was produced after consultation in 2006 to provide protocols for public involvement in the process and last year there was a consultation called 'Issues and Options' with a document asking very broad questions to stimulate public debate about how the district should evolve and grow. BALI participated in both these consultations.

Is it important?

The LDF is very important and will replace the Rother District Local PLan. However, it should be remembered that waste disposal is not a subject for local (district) Councils as a county matter. This will be covered in the ESCC Waste and Minerals Development Framework (WMDF) which will replace the ESCC Waste Local Plan (which first included the proposal for a landfill site at Ashdown).

The current stage

The current stage of the LDF is the most important as it deals with the Core Strategy, the key planning document which:

"...will set the overall vision and general distribution of development for the district....identify broad locations for housing and other development needs, including for employment, shopping and community facilities."

BALI made detailed submissions to the 'Consultations on Strategy Directions' in January 2009, supporting much of the general proposal for protection of the environment in the district. It however, vigorously opposed its vision for North and West Bexhill in the section 6.33 - 6.38 (on page 42) of the document, which proposed an extension of a 'Country Avenue' from the Link Road up to and across the A269 Ninfield Road*, lined with developments and "providing the transport infrastructure regarded as essential to the planned landfill use of the Ibstock site"

Our arguments were manifold and you can read an extract of them. The most important were that to propose a road leading to the Ibstock site was premature and beyond RDC's remit as neither transport nor waste are district matters and that the forthcoming ESCC WMDF had not yet decided on waste disposal sites.

*in fact, in 6.38 they envisage the Country Avenue carrying on right down to the A259!