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.

 

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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