10 November 2004

“Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.”

(A Native American saying)

I am indebited to Ian Wilson of the Betchworth Parish Council for the above quote.

If you are not aware, Surrey County Council have designated six potenial mineral zones (PMZs) in Betchworth and Buckland as part of the Surrey Minerals Replacement Plan.

They will all affect the residents of Brockham, however the most immediate issue is the Common Field which lies to the east of the village between Betchworth and Brockham, referred to as PMZ55.

The site is some 45 acres (180,000 sq metres) and the plan is to extract some 700,000 tonnes of sand. When sand has been extracted it is undoubted that the area will then become a landfill site.

The impact on the environment and the quality of life for the residents of all villages will be drastically changed.

Two action groups have been created on which representatives from Brockham Green Village Society and the Parish Council will stand:

• The Betchworth 'Four Weddings and a Sandpit' team will be primarily targeting PMZ55, the Common Field, and
• The Buckland 'Sand Action Group (SAG)' concentrating its efforts on PMZ60 at Shagbrook and preparing technical arguments for PMZ56-59

The two groups will communicate closely with one another to maximise use of funding and avoid duplication of effort. A significant amount of work has already been started and it is important that evryone in Brockham supports their actions.

The most useful part that can be taken is to write immediately to Surrey County Council. ALL YOUR LETTERS COUNT. In fact if you have friends or visitors to the area get them to write to. Try not to use standard letters - write something from yourself, it doesn't have to be word processed!

Letters should be addressed to:

David Lamb,

The Minerals Plan Team Leader

Surrey County Council,

Room 389 County Hall
Kingston-upon-Thames

KT1 2DY

The full report on the Potential Mineral Zones can be found at: www.surreycc.gov.uk. Either go through ‘Minerals Development Framework 2004 – 2016’, or put ‘PMZ stakeholder meetings’ in the search engine.

Visit http://www.fourweddingsandasandpit.org/ and http://www.sandactiongroup.com for further information.