Nick Herbert "extremely disappointed" by landfill decision

Arundel & South Downs MP Nick Herbert has said that he is “extremely disappointed” by the decision of West Sussex County Council to extend the life and capacity of Horton Landfill Site in Small Dole.

The decision of the County's Planning Committee yesterday (8 April) will allow Viridor Waste Management Limited to continue disposing of waste at the site until 1 October 2010.

Local residents and campaigners had hoped that the site would close on 1 April with the expiry of planning permission granted in 2004.

Formal objections to the planning application were submitted by Upper Beeding Parish Council, Henfield Parish Council, Small Dole Action Group and the South Downs Joint Committee.  151 letters of objection were received from local residents and an e-petition contained 91 names.

Horsham District Council had also raised a number of concerns about the proposal to extend the life of the site to 2010, including the impact of noise, odour and air pollution. 

Nick Herbert commented: "I'm extremely disappointed by the decision to extend the life of the Horton landfill site.  The residents of Small Dole have campaigned long and hard to close this site.  The community will be feeling badly let down. 

"We really have to stop dumping rubbish in this way.  West Sussex currently landfills about two thirds of its household waste, but for example the Netherlands landfills only around 2 per cent of its waste and has a far better record on recycling, as do most countries in Europe."

Mr Herbert added: "It's the responsibility of all of us to reduce the amount of rubbish we throw away, but I hope that the County Council will accelerate efforts to find better ways to deal with waste in the future."

Ends

Notes for Editors

1. The planning application DC/07/0814 will allow for the variation of conditions 1 and 7 of DC/04/2232 (which allowed for the disposal of waste until 1 April 2008).

2. For the report of the Divisional Manager County Development, submitted to the Planning Committee, visit http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/CS/committee/plng/plng080408i4.pdf

3. For the website of the Small Dole Action Group, visit http://smalldole.com/.