Epsom and Ewell may be Surrey county dump for asbestos waste (From Surrey Comet)

Epsom and Ewell may be Surrey county dump for asbestos waste

7:30am Sunday 22nd November 2009

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Deadly asbestos will be collected at a waste centre in Epsom if plans submitted to Surrey County Council (SCC) were approved on Wednesday.

But furious residents say the decision to hold the county meeting the day before Epsom and Ewell Borough Council was due to hold its planning meeting was “bonkers.”

If the dates of the meetings had been reversed it would have been Epsom’s last chance to get the scheme kicked out on a technicality – that current site operators are acting without full planning permission.

But because of the meeting schedule Epsom and Ewell did not have any formal input into SCC’s decision.

A report prepared for Epsom says councillors should object to the proposed asbestos waste transfer station at the Chalk Pit, in College Road, on a planning technicality, but residents objected on health grounds.

Asbestos is linked with mesothelioma, an aggressive and deadly form of cancer, other forms of lung cancer and other serious diseases.

Steve Gebbett, whose home is close to the Chalk Pit, said: “This is bonkers – it is no way for democracy to function.

There was poor communication from the start and it is being pushed through on the grounds lorry movements might be reduced. We will be the repository for asbestos for all of Surrey.”

Limited amounts of double-wrapped asbestos can already be taken to the recycling centre in Blenheim Road.

The SCC report which recommends granting planning permission, says the likelihood of accidental release of asbestos dust from the Chalk Pit is considered minimal.

An SCC pokesman said: “Epsom and Ewell Borough Council (E&EBC) has had four months to give its views and we do not want to hold the process up any longer. It recommends objecting to the application and our officers will report this to the Planning and Regulatory Committee. It is up to them whether to delay until they have the borough council’s official view.”

But a spokesman for E&EBC retaliated saying: “SCC accepted the application for the waste transfer station without enough information to comment.

“Both councils deferred from or delayed in taking it up to their respective planning committees due to this. This was done on the understanding SCC would wait for E&EBC to make comments before determining the application, but it is now unwilling to do so.”

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