Gravel Raising
The saga continues!
OUR NEW SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. IN THE MEANTIME, FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON THE GRAVEL EXTRACTION AND AGGREGATES RECYCLING PROPOSALS, PLEASE VISIT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AT: https://www.facebook.com/pages/SAY-NO-to-Gravel-Extraction-and-a-Concrete-Processing-Plant-in-Egham/143291269091863 (You may need to create a Facebook login to view this page)
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In December 2008 the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA), following their earlier consultation on the appropriate level of primary aggregate extraction in the region, came out firmly in favour of a much-reduced volume of 9.01 million tonnes p.a. to 2026 (compared to the earlier Government requirement of 12.18mtpa). This reduced the allocation to Surrey to 1.32mtpa compared to the earlier 2.62mtpa (& should reduce the pressure for sites to be contributed by the Egham/Thorpe area). A formal submission of the revised targets was made to the Government in February 2009 but the Government deferred commenting until a Public Inquiry (or Examination in Public) that took place in October 2009 & recommended a slightly lower Surrey target of 1.27mtpa.
As a result SCC deferred their production of a revised draft Minerals Plan for the period to 2026 (including preferred gravel extraction sites) but issued a draft Primary Aggregates Development Plan for public consultation between 6th November & 18th December 2009. This proposes that, even to meet the revised lower Surrey extraction target of 1.27mtpa, they will need to utilise the gravel resources at 11 “preferred area” across the county, which notably include the MPF site, the adjacent Whitehall Farm & Muckhatch Lane in Thorpe. This review may account for SCC's delay in considering the Hanson's application to work Milton Park Farm (see below) but we may need to step up our objections again in the light of the new draft Plan. The SCC Draft Plan, with a revised Environmental Report, was submitted to a planned Public Inquiry which started in October 2010, ended in January 2011 & the Inspector's report is due in May 2011.
Further deatils of SCC's Minerals Plan can be found at :
In the meantime, the much-awaited application by Hanson Aggregates for gravel raising on the Milton Park Farm site was submitted to SCC on 31/3/09 but its review by the SCC Planning & Regulatory Committee has been continually delayed & is now not scheduled until their 30th March 2011 (over 24mths since the original application) - although it is likely that this will slip even further pending the Planning Inquiory report? Details of the application (RU.09/0299) have been loaded on the RBC website & can be found by following this link :
ftp://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/planning_applications/Milton_park_farm/
Unfortunately the files are enormous & will take a while to download!
The SCC consultation notification is attached & actually lists a lot of reasons that residents can use in their objection! As you may expect we have objected on a number of grounds (including traffic (230 lorry movements a day are planned), hydrology (impact on drainage & water table), noise, impact on Manorscroft School etc). The local Residents Against Gravel Extraction (R.A.G.E) group of residents associations also organised a public meeting to galvanise objections (9th June 2009 at Manorcrofts School at 7.30pm) - more details on the RAGE page......
The RBC Planning Committee's review of the application took place on 16th September 2009 & resulted in a unanimous vote to strongly object to the application on the grounds of prematurity & serious impacts on traffic & local hydrology. However, they only have a consultative role (with the decision-making responsibility held by SCC) &, after world record delay, the application is now due to be heard by SCC's Planning & Regulatory Committee on 30th March 2011, so still time to send of an objection letter (a suggested template follows)..............
