Our MP agrees with us: enough is enough (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Our MP agrees with us: enough is enough

3:00pm Wednesday 27th August 2008 in Search

I REFER to a letter in the Guardian (August 14 edition) ‘Action Group must end recycled soil objection.’ Theydon Bois Action Group had a very constructive meeting with Eleanor Laing, MP, and Joan Ruddock, Parliamen-tary Under Secretary of State with responsibility for waste and recycling and environmental regulation.

She was very concerned about the serious level of the apparent abuse of environmental waste legislation in Essex and East London.

She confirms in a letter to Ian Wright, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government: “I am persuaded that the size and scale of the proposed developments are out of proportion to what might reasonably be anticipated in the local areas in which this is happening.

“I believe there may be some substance in the claims made by local residents that developers are actively seeking to use landscaping as cover for significant disposal operations and that local authority planners are being misled over the real purpose of the proposals.

“I think it would be beneficial for us to take a joint view as to the extent to which these developments are legitimate uses of land or require assessment as waste disposal matters; whether the current development proposals (at least one of which is subject to challenge) have been determined in accordance with Communities Local Government policy guideline; and whether the policy guidelines are adequate to cover these developments.”

The new application to dump a further 45,000 cubic metres of spoil onto Mr Lloyd-Skinner’s golf course on top of the 300,000 he has already dumped on two previous applications was determined on August 21.

Mrs Laing “shares our concerns about new planning applications for the further movement of waste into proposed golf course developments.”

Perhaps members of the district council’s plans east committee will now decide enough is enough.

Theydon Bois Action Group.