No To Digging Up Green Belt! Print
Thursday, 17 December 2009 11:09

East Surrey MP Peter Ainsworth has lodged a formal objection to Surrey County Council's draft Minerals Plan, which currently includes the possibility of yet more quarrying across a wide stretch of land north of Bletchingley and Nutfield.

 Peter Ainsworth, who has supported residents of Nutfield Marsh (the "marshdwellers") in their campaign to stave off the destruction of their local landscape over several years, said:

"Surrey County Council's Draft Minerals Plan poses a real threat to the landscape in the East Surrey Green Belt and a protected Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But the potential impact extends well beyond the immediate location of the proposed digging. If planners give the green light to further quarrying development it would mean hundreds more heavy lorries roaring through Nutfield, Godstone and Bletchingley and down narrow rural roads. These would be environmentally dreadful and also dangerous".

 Mr Ainsworth has also reiterated his opposition to plans to extend operations at Oxted Sandpit in Barrow Green Road.

 He continued:

 "No good case has been set out to justify such an inappropriate and environmentally destructive assault on these villages and the protected landscape. I have urged the County to remove these proposals from their plans. I am pleased to note that Tandridge District Council has also objected strongly. There is a real danger that, if these plans are not thrown out, a huge swathe of east Surrey will be subjected to blight".