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Bexhill Against Landfill & Incineration

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NO LANDFILL AT ASHDOWN!

Campaign Latest: 29th January 2010

Letter from Nick Hollington, Chairman of BALI

The consultation is over; the fight continues. While feeling satisfied that we, BALI, and the people of Bexhill, have done our utmost in the current campaign to remove Ashdown Brickworks as a landfill site from the County’s waste plan, we know from past experience how obdurate the County Council is regarding using this site for waste and so we cannot and will not relax our efforts.

Our sources tell us that there have been over 800 objections to the County's 'Preferred Strategy for Waste' since its publication last October. Furthermore many of these have been from local groups representing up to (in the case of Highwoods Golf Club) 800 members.

Rother District Council, an extremely important 'statutory consultee', has strongly opposed the proposal to use Ashdown Brickworks for landfill and councillors and representatives of all political parties have expressed wholehearted support for BALI in the local press, which has also come out strongly against this pernicious proposal that would damage our town in so many ways.

After RDC's submission, possibly the most important submission is BALI's own, long in the preparation and submitted only last week, consisting of 27 pages of detailed forceful argument in planning terms by our expert legal-planning consultants DMH Stallard. We take no credit for this; such work is expensive and has only been possible through the generous donations from local groups and individuals to our Fighting Fund both before and during our current campaign. We can but thank them profusely.

It is important to note, however, that Bexhill are not the only community opposing the County’s waste plans. The Preferred Strategy vaguely suggests – on a map – as an addition or alternative to Ashdown, 'areas of search' for landraise sites (like Pebsham) in the Low Weald which have been identified as being near such communities as Golden Cross, Hellingly, Hailsham, Chiddingly and others. Their parish councils have accordingly formed their own action group to oppose landfill/raise in their area supported by their MPs Charles Hendry and Norman Baker. (In a similar way our own MP Greg Barker has unwaveringly supported BALI for over 7 years and continues to be a 'tower of strength' for our cause).

'NIMBYS!' we might say – or they might say of us. We don't, of course: they have the same right to defend their local community as ourselves, and they take the same view of our struggle in Bexhill. I was pleased to be invited to their packed public meeting in Hailsham, last Saturday and gratified to hear that they do not suggest simply that waste be buried in the ground at Ashdown. Rather they are strongly urging East Sussex County Council, as is BALI, to rethink their whole waste policy. Landfill or landraise are mediaeval solutions to the massive modern problem of waste disposal. They are saying to East Sussex, and BALI firmly agrees: 'Go back to the Drawing Board!' Make a new plan- to further reduce waste (e.g. packaging), reuse it, recycle it more and if it has to be disposed, compost it or at least recover energy from it through the many 21st century technologies available. If whole countries, like Sweden or Germany, more or less do without any landfill today, how is it that ESCC is now planning to put waste in the ground until at least 2026?!

WILL THEY (ESCC) LISTEN? - is the big question. They will certainly register all the objections made and make a massive database which will be made available to the public on the ESCC website. But will they listen? We shall now have to wait and see.

WHEN WILL WE KNOW? - whether Ashdown is included in the next stage of the plan? The next stage, called the 'pre-submission Core Strategy', was scheduled to be published in February. ESCC Waste Team , however, have admitted that, partly owing to the extension of the consultation period, they are way behind schedule and that they need far more time to sift the massive number of objections and further investigate the viability of both Ashdown and the landraise areas of search. We therefore do not expect to hear anything conclusive before April or May 2010 (or even June).

SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? Just wait? No way! The fight has to go on and we shall use every opportunity to continue to oppose the landfill plan in the coming months.

  • Our consultants have requested ESCC - and they have agreed – to enter into a continuing dialogue with BALI while the Core Strategy is being prepared in which we hope to further influence the process before the Core Strategy is published.
  • We will receive shortly the results of our request to ESCC under the Freedom of Information Act to reveal all their records of their dealings with the Ashdown site-owners Ibstock. You will recall that Ibstock have already entered into an agreement with a waste contractor to make a planning application to landfill the Ashdown quarries, they say 'with the encouragement of East Sussex County Council'. We need to ensure that this is not so and that ESCC are proceeding with their plan transparently and in good faith with the people of Bexhill.
  • We will continue to liaise with Bexhill and Rother County Councillors to ensure they do their job in defending our town and fully representing their residents’ and the District Council's clearly stated views. We are not convinced that the rules of ‘predetermination’ prevent them from speaking out to reassure us of their current opposition to the landfill proposal. There is much more they could say and do to satisfy our and the Bexhill community's concerns.
  • We will continue to campaign in the press and other media, addressing meetings and keeping in touch with our increasing numbers of supporters. While hoping we will win at this stage and that Ashdown will be excluded from the Core Strategy, we must prepare for the eventuality that Ashdown is still included, in which case we will simply have to fight all over again – we will never give in - in the new consultation that will follow. If it is included, however, ESCC will need to give far more details of their proposal and explain why they have not heeded all our objections.
  • We are already preparing for this by regrouping into 2 new committees, the BALI Campaign Committee and the BALI Fundraising Committee. We will be shortly writing to those who have kindly offered help at or since our public meeting whether by joining these committees or supporting them by delivering leaflets, assisting at our fundraising events etc.
  • If you would like to help BALI, and have not already applied, please phone me on 01424 843046 or (Fundraising) Mike Rosner on 01424 845688. If you wish to make a donation – and we certainly need further funds - please send it to the BALI Treasurer, Pauline Rosner, at 16 Hillborough Close, Little Common, Bexhill on Sea TN39 3TW.

    • I would finally like to thank all those who have given BALI such tremendous support in defending our environment and our community of Bexhill.

    Nick Hollington Chairman, BALI

    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.

    See BALI news from November 2009.

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