Sarah Champion MP Urges New Government to Step in to Prevent Reopening of Droppingwell Tip
Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, has written to the new Government urging them to act to prevent the reopening of Droppingwell Tip.
The Environment Agency issued a permit variation in 2016 that permitted tipping to resume at the site, that had been closed in the mid-1990s following a lengthy campaign by local residents. Planning permission, dating from the 1950s, remains in force. Work continues at the site to bring it back into use as landfill.
Despite having the option to do so, the Environment Agency chose not to conduct any form of public consultation prior to issuing the permit variation. Neither the local authority, local elected councillors, nor Sarah as the constituency MP were notified of the proposals until after the permit had been granted.
In a letter to the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, Sarah said:
“It cannot be right that a site dormant for so long can be permitted to reopen with only the most cursory scrutiny on the basis of planning permissions issued before the majority of local residents were even born. That my constituents’ views and rights have been lost in this process shows the deep flaws in existing legislation.”
Commenting, Sarah said:
“Since the permit was first issued, I have done all that I can to highlight the profound injustice suffered by local people by this appalling decision. Their voices have been ignored and their community blighted.’
‘It is truly shocking that a public body, with no consultation whatsoever, can allow such an inappropriate and unwelcome development to proceed. That developers are able to rely upon long-dormant planning permission dating back nearly seventy years, permission that almost certainly would not be granted today, exposes profound loopholes in our planning and environmental regulations.”
Sarah has requested a meeting with the new Minister to discuss a way forward. Commenting, she said:
“It is clear to me that only direct government intervention is able to ensure that the permit variation issued for the Droppingwell site is rescinded. I raised this time and time again with the former Conservative Government and pleaded with them to stand by local residents trampled by this woeful regulatory process.
‘But they refused to do so every time. I am hopeful that, with a new Government and a new approach, a way forward can be found, both for those impacted by Droppingwell and to close this loophole for good.’
‘I will be doing everything I can, as I always have, to make residents voices heard in Government and to stop the tip from reopening.”
You can read Sarah’s letter HERE