Capel Incinerator:

I am strongly opposed to a mass burn waste incinerator being built in Capel, and Mole Valley Liberal Democrat councillors consistently opposed one. Such an incinerator not only would increase traffic levels around Capel and be detrimental to the landscape’s appearance, but it is too far from Guildford, Woking and the north of Surrey, where most of the waste is generated. Moreover, there are greener alternatives to mass burn incineration.

The relentless campaigning on the issue by the Capel Action Group (CAG) successfully highlighted the likely problems that would be caused by the introduction of such an incinerator in Capel.

I and my colleague Cllr Iain Murdoch held a meeting on 7th March 2008 with the relevant officers at Surrey County Council in order to lobby them directly. We made clear the reasons why we and many local residents oppose an incinerator being built at Capel. When we argued that being under the Gatwick flight path is likely to spread pollution produced by an incinerator, they conceded that “that is something that will need to be looked into.”

During the meeting we expressed our concern that if the incinerator is built, it will dispose of waste not only from Surrey, but from other areas as well, increasing the traffic and pollution problems that the facility will create. The officers insisted that the plan was only for an incinerator that would dispose of Surrey’s waste. However, they admitted that the company owning the incinerator could apply for permission to enlarge the facility and dispose of waste from beyond Surrey.

Capel is a beautiful part of Surrey with farm land, villages and towns near by. It is clearly highly unsuitable as a site for waste disposal.

Eventually, I am pleased to say, the Conservative-controlled County Council did a U-turn on the issue. It finally abandoned its Capel incinerator plan. A plan has now been proposed for gasification and anaerobic digestion facilities to treat an expected 100,000 tonnes of household waste a year in a new 'Eco Park' project in Shepperton.

Congratulations to all those, particularly CAG, who campaigned incredibly hard on this issue for so long.

Cllr Iain Murdoch and I in front of the Clockhouse Brickworks site in Capel, where Surrey Waste Management Limited's planning application proposed a mass-burn incinerator should be built.