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.