Village News

All the latest news from the Wentworth Estate.

Incinerator

Contribution fund now wound up

With the Final Decision taken by Surrey County Council to abandon Incineration as a waste disposal technology due to the significantly higher levels of recycling experienced the "residents against incineration" appeal fund is now in the process of being wound up.

Contributors to the fund (excluding Wentworth Residents Association) will receive a refund of 27.92% rounded to the nearest £.

Cheques are currently being produced and will be mailed by the end of June 2010.

The financial summary of the fund is attached.

Your Committee would like to express its appreciation to the support provided in its fight against the Trumps Farm site adjacent to Virginia Water being included in Surrey County Council's waste plan.

It must be noted however, that the site remains the property of Surrey County Council and to the best of your Committee's knowledge, no plans are currently in place to either sell or develop this site, it still remains available for future development.

total fund reconciliation.pdf

Surrey County drops incinerator plans

 Surrey County Council today announced that there are no longer plans to build Energy from Waste (EfW) incinerators in Surrey.

Outlining the council's new waste strategy plans, Leader of the Council Dr Andrew Povey said: "I am very pleased to announce that we are scrapping plans for any EfW incinerators in Surrey. Today I will be instructing that the planning applications for incinerators at Capel and Trumps Farm be withdrawn.

"With our help, and that of our partners, our residents are now doing so well at producing less waste and recycling more that we are in a position to look at alternative methods of dealing with our waste and saving both money and our countryside.

"The way to achieve this is by diverting waste from landfill. The practice is not only destructive to our landscape and environment but the taxation on landfill alone currently costs us over £7 million per year. This tax is increasing at an alarming rate and will have almost doubled by 2013. If we don't act now the Surrey taxpayer could be paying as much as £13m annually in landfill tax alone within four years, so our goal is to avoid putting any waste in landfill by then."

The council's new approach to waste will concentrate on reducing the amount of waste Surrey produces, encouraging people to reuse things where they can and recycle as much as possible after that. The new plans will lead to a reduction in the amount of household waste dealt with every year by 35,000 tonnes, enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall 14 times. As a result the county will be making substantial savings in waste disposal costs by 2013. Minimising waste alone will result in estimated savings of £3.5 million per year in disposal costs.

Cabinet Member for the Environment Lynne Hack said: "A key element of the county council's new waste vision is an Eco Park, which would be the first of its kind in the country. It would incorporate a range of waste treatment facilities, an innovation centre to look at and develop the latest technologies and an education centre open to all.

"The proposed location is the existing waste management facility at Charlton Lane, Shepperton, which has been in waste management use for many years. The buildings would be designed sympathetically to fit in with the surrounding area and would look much more attractive than the existing development. There would be a reduction in traffic compared with the existing operation.

"The Eco Park would include an anaerobic digester and a gasifier, which would be half the size of the EfW plants originally envisaged for Capel and Trumps Farm."

In a gasifier, waste is heated to produce a gas, which can then be burned cleanly at high temperatures to provide energy in a similar way to natural gas.

Anaerobic digestion is a natural treatment by which food waste is broken down producing gases, which can be converted into energy. Last year 100,000 tonnes of food were thrown away in Surrey. The council is already working with the district and borough councils on separate food collections, which should be operating throughout the county by the time the digester is ready.

Because of successes in minimising waste and increases in recycling, Surrey requires much smaller plant than the proposed EfW incinerators. Together the gasifier and the anaerobic digester would treat 100,000 tonnes of waste per year, a considerable reduction from the 270,000 tonnes proposed for the EfW incinerators. They would produce enough energy to power 10,000 households, which equates to one fifth of the houses in Guildford. This 'green' energy would be sold to the national grid.

The new Eco Park plans would cost £50m, significantly less than the £200m it would have cost to build two EfW incinerators.

Local residents would of course be consulted during the planning process and their views taken into account.

Dr Povey concluded: "We are currently recycling about 47% of our waste; our target is to be recycling around 70% by 2013, which will put us among the best performers in the world. By taking this new approach and with this flexible use of new technologies we will be a world leader in dealing with waste. This strategy will reduce the carbon impact and cost less than previous solutions, making it the best value for money for the taxpayer."

Swans on the Lake Jan 2010

 

                             Wentworth Lake

 

2009 was not a good year for Wentworth Lake. As you probably know, George and Mildred disappeared without a trace. It all started in late April early May when Mildred started to build her nest and for some unexplained reason, she decided to build it on the Golf course side of the lake where as every other year, she had built it on the opposite side, away from the course. It was decided to erect a fence around the nest and with Julian’s permission we did so, some 50 yards radius away from the nest. Had this not been done, you can imagine, every dog, fox and probably walker would have gone down to have a look for the eggs. Immediately Mildred was not happy with this arrangement and within a few days both George and Mildred were nowhere to be seen. For a few days we were not too worried, but after a week, alarm bells were ringing. We alerted the club and Chris Kennedy and his staff were keeping an eye open. Plus Andy from WERC and his staff also. Every house whose garden is beside the lake or river was checked and I walked the Bourne down as far as the railway arch. Jan meanwhile concentrated on Virginia Water Lake. Windsor Great Park Rangers where very helpful and they put out an APP (all persons priority) for everybody to keep an eye open for George and Mildred. We must remind readers, that Mildred cannot fly from a previous accident.    

 

And then one day Andy from WERC called to tell us the news we had been dreading. White feathers had been found by the river. Immediately we rushed to the spot and gathered up the feathers, which we sent to Dot Beeson at the Swan Sanctuary. A week or more passed and Dot phoned to advise us that the feathers were not from Mildred – they were too old – probably from last year. We then discussed with Dot the possibility of replacements and it was agreed to wait until late September early October to see if George returned with a new mate to the lake assuming that Mildred had died. You may now be asking how old they were. We have been looking after them for at least 12 years and we can remember them being on the lake way before that. So our guess is 18-20 years. Throughout the summer we continued to look for them but there was no trace. Dot told us that swans cannot fly in July/Aug because of the moult when they lose their feathers and this is why she wanted to wait to see of George returned. Everybody we spoke to said how the lake looked so bare and didn’t look the same without the swans.

 

In early October we agreed with Dot to take two swans and had identified two handicapped swans that would come and take up residency here at the Wentworth. Names where chosen, Marlene and Boycie and various paperwork was completed and Julian and the club gave permission. It was agreed that on the 7^th October Marlene and Boycie would come and live on the lake.       

 

On the 7^th October, Janet came past the lake in the morning and there were the 2 Swans swimming about. On her return to the house she immediately phoned Dot to say ‘Thank you’ but Dot said, ‘we haven’t brought them over yet, we were about to call you to say we are on our way’. The two stray swans had decided on this very day to come and make their home here at Wentworth. What an amazing coincidence. Julian said that as they flew over Wentworth they decided that this was the ‘Good life’ and so we named them Jerry and Margot. 

 

As I write this in late January they are still here. Remember, these two swans are young and healthy and we believe approximately 3 years old. If they wanted to, they could fly off tomorrow. We are very hopeful that they will remain and raise a family. We have also got a pair of Canada Geese who are in residence too. George and Mildred would have never tolerated Canada Geese, but Jerry and Margot do not seem to mind them. Also living on the lake are a considerable amount of Mallard Ducks, Coots, Heron’s and even a Cormorant.  We also have a pair of Egyptian Geese.

 

Janet and I would like to say thank you to Dot Beeson and her staff at the Swan Sanctuary for all their help and information given and to Julian (Chief Executive of Wentworth Club Ltd) who without his help it would be impossible to continue the feeding programme.            

 

Janet and Tony Ashfield 30^th January 2010.