The hearing into Surrey County Council's Minerals Plan was conducted by a government Planning Inspector, Mary O'Rourke.
The Plan proposes massive development in this part of Surrey including extending Oxted Sandpit in Barrow Green Road for sand extraction and also making it into an aggregates recycling centre. If approved, this would mean hundreds more lorries on our narrow residential roads in addition to the ones using the Chalkpit Quarry less than a mile away.
We felt we did all we could to explain to the Inspector why the proposals would seriously aggravate the existing intolerable problems with lorry traffic in Oxted. Local people and the British Horse Society outlined the extreme road safety dangers which would result from the County Council's irresponsible plan.
Phil Littleford from Chalkpit Lane described the appalling situation he and his neighbours live with and how Surrey County Council has done nothing in the past 3 years to try to improve things. He underlined the fact that the Chalkpit is used by uncontrolled numbers of HGVs. They are uncontrolled because, when SCC gave planning permission, it failed to attach any condition limiting lorry numbers.
Sam Gyimah MP made a powerful statement, at the start of the hearing, objecting to the scale of minerals extraction proposed by Surrey County Council with four new quarries planned in a small area of Tandridge.
Mohamed Al Fayed, who has very generously funded the experts needed for the residents group to fight this plan, attended the hearing and a lunchtime news conference where he made his own views very clear, stressing his love for Oxted and vowing to continue to do all he can to protect the Green Belt from unnecessary development.
What surprised all of us was the County Council's apparent lack of knowledge about the Sandpit site and its history. For example, they stated in their final submission document that the Sandpit was currently operational and there had been 'few complaints' about it and 'no accidents involving HGVs'. The Sandpit has been shut for 10 years at least!
We don't believe that the County Council have carried out proper and thorough assessments, especially regarding transport and hydrology issues and hope the Inspector comes to the same conclusion and declares the Minerals Plan unsound. She has a huge amount of paperwork to wade through now and is not expected to give her decision until April.
Surrey County Council has been represented every day of the 2-week examination by a barrister at public expense and in the last 4 years has spent more than £200,000 of taxpayers' money on external help with the Minerals Plan.
Last month, the Environment Agency refused a landfill permit for the Sandpit because of the unacceptable amount of HGV traffic this would generate in addition to the Chalkpit. We hope this decision will be helpful with regard to the Minerals Plan because the lorry traffic, resulting from its proposals, would be immense.
We also hope that as well as helping Oxted, this decision may assist other Tandridge sites targeted in the County Council's Minerals Plan, such as Mercers Farm on Nutfield Marsh, where the impact from the large numbers of HGVs involved, in addition to existing traffic, would be appalling.
As well as Oxted, the Minerals Plan proposes 3 more quarries crammed together in this part of Tandridge - one in Bletchingley, which already has North Park Farm Quarry, and 2 in Nutfield. Development will stretch all along the foot of the North Downs, ravaging Green Belt land and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The sheer scale of the development threatens to pollute the local environment over a wide area.
If approved, this Plan will destroy large areas of treasured countryside and choke the roads with heavy lorries.
Sutton and East Surrey Water has given evidence to the Inspector about its concerns over the pollution of water supplies and the depletion of the aquifer in this area. All 4 sites are on the same aquifer.
It's become clear that the Plan is based on flawed evidence, is unsound and does not comply with planning law. Environmental assessments have been wrongly carried out; the 'sieving' process by which SCC ruled out some sites and ruled in others has been misapplied; the amount of minerals to be extracted is too high and bears no relation to the amount actually required; large reserves of soft sand have been left out of the Plan for no apparent reason; there has been no assessment of the cumulative effects of so much development in such a small area.
Hundreds of residents have campaigned for the Plan to be scrapped and petitioned the government. The Surrey Mirror has run a campaign to "Scrap the Plan" and we are very grateful for their support. To read all the campaign coverage click the "Latest News" button.
Despite the widespread opposition, from residents, from East Surrey MP Sam Gyimah, from Tandridge District Council, from the local water company, Surrey County Council has pressed on regardless.
There's been a public outcry against SCC's refusal to take any notice of what local people think and its 'patronising and arrogant' attitude towards the intervention of Mr Gyimah.
He has strongly supported residents, writing to the County Council last July to say it was 'grossly unfair' to continue with a Plan that shows such disrespect for local opinion.
But Lynne Hack, a Surrey County Councillor, rejected his plea saying Mr Gyimah was 'new', that planning was 'extremely complex' and that 'perhaps he misunderstood'. This reply prompted many angry letters.
The County Council's behaviour is especially galling because it has executed a shameless U-turn over the Minerals Plan. Last February, before the general election, the Council leader, Andrew Povey, went on BBC Television and blamed the Labour government for the whole thing.
He said: - It is actually the government that says that we have to have a minerals plan and I'm sorry they are not here today to defend it ..and not only do they say we have to have a plan but they set out the numbers of tonnes of sand and aggregates that we have to extract from within Surrey. It's not really within our power to stop that'
When asked what he thought of David Cameron's ideas if he were elected at the May election, Dr Povey commented:
'I suspect that what he's saying is that instead of the government saying we have to have a minerals plan and have to accept a certain volume of minerals, that would be for local authorities to decide. That would be a valuable freedom.' (See Latest News to see "The Politics Show")
The government has now given SCC the freedom to revise the Plan and to redetermine the volume of minerals to be recovered, but it has refused to do so.
Witness Lynne Hack's comments on The Politics Show on 11 July You'll note the contrast between what Dr Povey said in February and what she now says. And in a recent letter, Dr Povey states: 'I strongly believe we have come up with the best plan for Surrey as a whole.'
We very much hope the Inspector will see the justice of our case, will find this flawed and ill-conceived Minerals Plan unsound and will send it back to Surrey County Council to do the job properly.
