Surrey County Conservatives

Government Minerals extraction targets for Surrey are unrealistic and will damage the Green Belt say County Conservatives 24th January

Yesterday’s SCC Council meeting saw support from all sides for a conservative Motion tabled by David Munro (Executive Member for the Environment) calling for a reduction in Surrey’s Minerals apportionment .

Speaking during the debate Mr. Munro remarked that, as with so many other issues, Surrey is being treated unfairly: “Surrey is the most densely-populated county in the region, yet it has one of the highest apportionments. At the current figure of 2.62million tonnes per year it is only exceeded by Hampshire and is roughly equivalent with Kent. Given that 73% of the county is Green Belt, that's an enormous imposition as scores of communities throughout the county will testify”.

He added that the amount of minerals extracted had gone down in recent years, with 2005 seeing less than 2 million tonnes being dug up, and that he was therefore very surprised to see a 30% increase in the current apportionment target.

Commenting further he praised local residents and the councillors who represent them in their campaigns to prevent quarrying in their communities, commenting “If communities don't pitch in to preserve their neighbourhood as they see it, then we will all be in trouble”. He also praised SCC’s team of minerals officers who “often have a thankless job as they try to reconcile the demands of producing enough minerals to satisfy the apportionment while having to respond to the opposition of local residents to any proposed quarry in their area”.

Speaking afterwards he remarked “I am glad that councillors from all parties supported this motion, because it allows us to demonstrate to Government the strength of feeling in Surrey about the unfair way in which this county is treated by the government on this issue. Apportionments should be fair, and quite simply, ours isn’t”.