Additional sites for waste management – have your say

The boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton have launched a six-week consultation period giving residents an opportunity to comment on the suitability of eight sites for waste management purposes.

The sites under consideration are:

• Land west of Hawkhurst Road, Croydon
• Open area of land adjacent to Chessington Garden Centre, Kingston
• Land to the south of Silverglade Business Park, Kingston
• Land at the Hogsmill Valley, Kingston
• Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, Merton
• Former gravel extraction works sites (the old Cemex site), Beddington Farmlands, Sutton
• Wandle Valley Trading Estate, Hackbridge, Sutton
• Land to the north of Jessop’s Way, Beddington, Sutton

These eight sites are ‘additional sites’ that were put forward by residents, land owners and waste operators during a previous stage of consultation which took place between July and October 2009.

The suitability of these eight additional sites has been assessed using a set of robust criteria that takes into consideration issues such as flood risk, traffic impacts and visual intrusion and gives a score to each site.  All eight sites scored relatively poorly, when compared with the 28 sites that were shorlisted in the previous stage of the consutlation in 2009.  This indicates that, from a planning perspective, there would be obstacles to them being used for waste management purposes.

Residents and other interested parties are now being asked for their views on the assessments of these eight sites and their suitability for waste management purposes.

Councillor Simon James, Chair of the South London Waste Plan Member Working Group, said: “The sites have scored relatively poorly against the assessment criteria and so are clearly not sites we would seek to include in the Waste Plan.  But it is still important that we seek the views of residents and other interested parties to make sure that we have investigated all of the options fully – just like we did with the 112 sites that scored poorly in the previous consultation stage.  It is critically important that the South London Waste Plan is robust and reflects the views of local people, so we do not want to leave a stone unturned.”

The consultation will run from 8 February until 22 March.  Questionnaires and consultation materials are available online at:

http://southlondonwasteplan.limehouse.co.uk

Alternatively, the consultation documents are available in libraries, council main receptions or by contacting Emma Smyth, Waste Planning Project Manager:

Tel: 020 8547 5375

Email: [email protected]

To accommodate this extra phase of consultation, the final version of the South London Waste Plan is now due to be published in the autumn of 2010.  It will then be submitted to the Secretary of State for examination by an independent planning inspector.