This Association has been involved in the gravel extraction issue for over 40 years, and has successfully fought to stop or delay the working of gravel at sites in the area.
When the last Surrey Minerals Plan consultation began about 12 years ago it became obvious that Watersplash Farm would be the next site earmarked for working as part of national strategy, LOSRA and SSAGE (Sunbury & Shepperton Against Gravel Extraction) worked first to oppose it and then to mitigate the impact, and Cemex have been very accommodating in this regard, to the extent that LOSRA feels it has achieved as good a result as possible.
One of the reasons the planning application has taken so long was that the Environment Agency raised hydrology issues, which Cemex have addressed in the revised plan. In response to the article in the last Sunbury Matters, Cemex have given the following comment:
“CEMEX can confirm that it has addressed the issue of groundwater flooding at length within the Flood Risk Assessments and Surface Water Management Plan that was contained in Volume 5 of the Environmental Statement (March 2016) and that the Environment Agency have removed their objection to the proposals.
The modelling has shown a modest groundwater level rise up hydraulic gradient of the proposed landfill and an equivalent modest fall down hydraulic gradient. Accordingly, the report states at Paragraph 4.3 that ‘in essence the models showed that groundwater is able to flow around the lower permeability restoration fill with little hindrance.’ Notwithstanding, the company has agreed to install a groundwater drain across the northern application site boundary running from Gaston Bridge Road to the River Ash in order to drain excess groundwater and prevent groundwater flooding.”
