BALI FAQs

Some Frequently Asked Questions about BALI and the no landfill at Bexhill campaign

1)  Won’t the incinerator being built at Newhaven handle all our residual waste? 

It will probably handle all our household waste, after recycling, but that’s only about 20% of the county’s waste. It won’t be able to handle all our Commercial and Industrial (C&I) and Construction and Demolition (C &D) waste, which forms nearly 80% of all our waste.

2) What type of waste would be landfilled at Ashdown? 

Mostly Commercial & Industrial and Construction & Demolition waste. It might also be used for the residues of incineration such as ‘bottom ash’.

3) Would Ashdown then be only used for ‘inert’ (or inorganic) waste?

If it was, it would reduce - but not remove all - the harmful effects of landfill in terms of leachate (‘rubbish juice’), methane, vermin etc. However C&I/C&D waste is certainly not all inorganic, neither do ESCC confirm that the site will only be used for inert waste.

4) Can’t commercial/construction waste be recycled? 

Yes, it can and the best business and construction companies recycle nearly all their waste. ESCC say they have no powers to enforce recycling in the commercial sector, but BALI thinks they could be far more proactive on this matter.

5) Don’t the pits at Ashdown have to be filled anyway?

Actually, no – at least not in terms of importing materials to the site. Under their Waste Extraction License, Ibstock have been required during excavation to store the topsoil and interburden in order to create, once the pits have been excavated, a ‘bowl’ in the landscape which would be planted and designed to allow public access.

7) Why can’t BALI or someone make an 'Eden Project’ or leisure facility at Ashdown now

Great idea, but we believe not possible until the landfill proposed is defeated. The site-owners look at the site commercially and the landfill option would be more profitable to their shareholders.

8) Why would landfill be more profitable for Ibstock?

Landfilling business waste is very lucrative in itself, but because there are two pits at Ashdown, this allows them to continue extracting clay from one pit (to make bricks) while landfilling waste in the other, ‘double – dipping’ as it were.

9) Aren’t there problems in combining waste landfill with clay extraction?

There most certainly are. We believe ESCC are underestimating these.

10) So is BALI doing anything regarding the future of the site? 

Yes. We have proposed to Rother District Council’s Local Development Framework that the Ashdown quarries, after excavation, be combined with the Highwoods and the beautiful surrounding countryside into a West Bexhill Countryside Park for educational and leisure use. We are also applying for the quarries to be made a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) owing to their extensive nationally-important dinosaur remains, their geology, and the surrounding ancient woodland.

11) How do they plan to access the site for landfill anyway? Surely the roads aren’t good enough?

We think so, but it is a misconception that they plan to use local roads such as Pear Tree Lane, Sidley High Street, Turkey Road, etc. They plan to initially use the A269 with a slip road to the rear of the site around Freezeland Farm/St Mary’s Lane. But we believe the A269 is unsuitable:

• it has various pinch-points along its route (e.g. Herstmonceux) and>
• the routing of waste lorries from Hastings, Rye, etc. to avoid Sidley High Street would involve circuitous routes affecting other areas of Rother and Wealden Districts considerably (Battle, Ninfield, etc.)

12) Would the Link Road be the answer?

Not in itself: there would need to be a long connecting local distributor road to the A269 called the ‘Country Avenue’. This is light-years away, if ever built.