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Waste
CPRE OBJECT TO EAST SUSSEX LANDRAISING PROPOSALS
“Landraising” is a concept that means disposing of household and commercial waste by tipping it onto our unspoilt countryside to create new hills. This idea was discarded as unacceptable a decade ago in favour of the giant incinerator (now called a “Energy from Waste facility”) currently under construction in Newhaven. However, “landraising” is now back on the agenda in the latest East Sussex and Brighton & Hove Waste & Minerals Strategy, now open for consultation until 15 th January 2010.
The new draft strategy, an immense document with several dozen associated detailed papers to plough through, covers the period to 2026, and tackles a wide range of issues. There are commendable intentions to improve the amount and range of recycling undertaken, though meeting the ambitious targets of the South East Plan is considered too difficult. A range of new recovery facilities, varying from local composting sites to additional Energy from Waste facilities, may be required, and areas of search for such facilities are broadly defined. However, the section of the strategy likely to attract the greatest controversy is the search, delegated to consultants, for suitable areas of countryside for “landraising”. The criteria set, that the sites selected should have access from the East Sussex A-road network and avoid protected landscapes and communities of more than a thousand people, are similar to those used previously, so it is not surprising that several of the same sites appear at the top of the list.
Unsurprisingly no suitable or “green” sites could be located for “landraising”. No sites were found anywhere with good access to Brighton & Hove, the largest creator of waste. Historical administrative boundaries decree that Brighton & Hove waste must be accommodated in East Sussex rather than West. A long-list of 31 candidate countryside sites has in this way been reduced to a short-list of five “amber” sites, with difficulties that it is felt “might be resolved”. All five are in the Low Weald section of Wealden District, though three border Lewes District. One lies south of the A272, between Piltdown and Newick. Three lie along the A22, at the former Halland deerpark near East Hoathly ; south of Golden Cross; and north of Lower Dicker near the Boship roundabout. The final site is the southern half of the Laughton Levels, north of Firle and in full view of walkers along the South Downs Way near Firle Beacon. Of the short-listed sites, this is the one that has by far the best access to Brighton & Hove.
In the draft strategy the “landraising” sites to be used are as yet only broadly defined. Actual sites will come forward in the usual way through the planning process but the presumption must be in favour of sites within the areas chosen. They must be at least 25 hectares in extent. The height to which they will be raised is not defined, but clearly added heights of many metres would be necessary. While SSSIs are protected, inadequate attention has been given to ancient woodland and the wildlife communities that it supports. The Weald has a scattered settlement pattern, but no protection has been given to communities of below 1,000 people and the financial loss to householders living near the chosen site is “not a planning consideration”.
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