Community meeting over Ockendon landfill site

7:15am Saturday 17th May 2008

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RESIDENTS in Ockendon have held their first public meeting with the firm planning to restore a quarry and landfill site in the town back to nature.

At the inaugural meeting of the public liaison group at Veolia Environmental Services' Ockendon waste management site community representatives heard operations at the site date back to the early 1950s, when planning permission to extract clay was first granted.

Landfilling started in the 1970s to restore the land back to agricultural use.

Quarry operators, Lafarge Cement UK, will be withdrawing from the site later this year, leaving Veolia to restore the land. The group was told that the current operational area will be restored with over two metres of soil and around 30 per cent of the land area will be planted with native trees.

The planning permission says restoration has to be complete by 2024, but Veolia expect to do this about 10 years earlier.

Chairman of the liaison group, councillor Charlie Curtis, said: "This was a very useful start for members of the group to understand the site history and all the technical processes involved. At the next meeting we will visit the site so we can see the operations at close quarters."

Councillor Barrie Lawrence said: "It's important that we record the archaeological and industrial heritage of the site and show this on information boards in the areas of the site that will be open to public access."

Project Manager, Nick Walker, added: "Veolia is delighted to be working closely with such committed members of the community. This partnership will enable us to make sure that the site becomes a long-term community asset."