Surrey Minerals Plan

On Friday came the announcement of the Planning Inspector's decision regarding the Surrey Minerals Plan. I've blogged on this before and I'm glad the wait is finally over after many months of campaigning. We got one big win from the decision: It's a great victory that we've managed to defeat the proposals for the Oxted Sandpit – that's something we've been fighting for right from the start. The Inspector rightly saw that the residents didn't want the Sandpit to be used as a minerals site given the major concerns around the number of HGVs crashing through the town.

But why do hundreds of HGVs thundering down our narrow roads every day discount the Oxted Sandpit as a site but not Nutfield or Bletchingley? This is happening in Nutfield and Bletchingley too, and we've got to keep fighting for them even though they weren't successful in getting exempted from the Plan this time round.

The fight's not over yet, and I was down in Nutfield yesterday talking to the residents' group about how we can now move forward after this decision – and I plan to do the same with those from Bletchingley. It will take a renewed effort, but it's worth fighting for if it means we can protect our local environment and lessen the impact of HGVs smashing through our communities without due regard for those living there.

Lots of people have worked incredibly hard over the past months and years on questioning whether the Minerals Plan is really right for our community – and I sought to mention as many as I could when speaking at the hearing earlier this year. But to everyone who's been involved: a huge thank-you for your efforts.

For more information about the Inspector's decision, please visit Surrey County Council's website:

http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Surrey+Minerals+Plan?opendocument

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