Lib Dems' "Second Chance" Waste Lorry campaign

Liberal Democrats have started a petition to stop the use of Epsom town centre and its residential roads by the huge Britanicrest HGV's which transport waste. Their campaign four years ago on the same subject ran for two years but was suspended when stalemate was reached with the county council's contractor SITA.

Cllr Alison Kelly said "We went as far as we could last time, talking to SITA, finding and measuring alternative routes for these huge vehicles both in the time it would take and the mileage. We also tried to persuade the county council to insist the lorries used out of town routes when the waste contract came up for renewal. Residents are sick and tired of the vibration and noise from these vehicles and have to put up with 90 lorries a day along Hook Road alone. Perhaps this time people-power will have an effect".

The Lib Dems say that whilst it's understandable to have lorries to remove the waste created in Epsom & Ewell, much of the problem is caused by waste from four other boroughs which is brought into Epsom only to be transported out again. Cllr Kelly commented "If we didn't process waste from other boroughs, the number of these huge container lorries would reduce by over 50% - and that's just the Britaniacrest lorries. We also wouldn't have to cope with all the refuse collection vehicles that bring this waste in from these other areas in the first place". She feels Epsom has become just a convenient dumping ground and as long as the county council manages waste disposal it may not change. "We won't give up" she says "we'll keep on trying to stop the county council doing this as it simply isn't fair that our residents are subjected to all this avoidable noise, pollution and vibration".

Further information: Waste transported via Epsom's Blenheim Road dump:

• from Epsom & Ewell: 24,393 tonnes,
• from Mole Valley: 12,744 tonnes,
• from Reigate & Banstead: 12,057 tonnes,
• from Elmbridge: 8,624 tonnes,
• from Tandridge: 2,332 tonnes.