Sutton (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Wandle Valley Forum launches legal challenge against Sutton for failing to create Beddington Farmlands Nature Reserve, citing unenforced planning conditions.
It has extensively covered the long-standing failure of multinational corporations to fulfill their responsibilities, characterizing it as “a modern ecological tragedy” last November.
The Wandle Valley Forum finally took action on Friday in an attempt to salvage the sad state of affairs.
Stretching from Croydon to Carshalton and Merton along the chalkstream to the Thames, the Forum is a partnership of about 150 community groups and nonprofit organizations “for everyone who shares a passion for the Wandle.”
It was the Forum which, last month, filed the strongest possible objection to the latest planning application amendment submitted by Valencia, the company which has succeeded incinerator operators Valencia in assuming the duties and obligations for the former landfill site which, for almost 30 years, has been earmarked to become one of London’s biggest nature reserves.
In its formal objection, the Wandle Valley Forum wrote that
“Sutton Council should also be pursuing vigorous enforcement action in relation to the multiple areas where it is now confirmed there is ‘no significant change’ from the original proposals that have missed the deadline of end December 2023.
This should draw down on the fund held by Valencia Waste Management to guarantee delivery where necessary.”
Additionally, they released the following statement on Friday: Sutton Council has been placed on legal notice by Leigh Day Environmental Lawyers to:
Due to violations of planning law committed by site leaseholders Valencia Waste Management and a failure to take enforcement action by Sutton Council, the Wandle Valley Forum, the local community representative organization,
a) Adhere to enforcement measures to guarantee the leaseholder completes the reserve
b) Ensure the leaseholder provides the funds necessary to fund the reserve development
c) Maintain current ecological goals
d) Permit public access.
The former landfill site ought to have been turned into a wildlife refuge and a country park by now, but the site’s owners have prioritized energy earnings over environmental responsibilities, and Sutton Council has typically permitted them to do so.
The rehabilitation of the Beddington Farmlands into a nature reserve was scheduled to be finished by December 31, 2023.
The most recent planning requirement for the complete restoration of the Farmlands was agreed upon in 2015, and the plan to repair the dump site has been underway for almost 30 years.
Environmentalists, residents, and elected council members all concur that Sutton Council leaders have given Valencia and Viridor an easy ride.
As far back as 2005, the previous owners of the site, Viridor, had made hollow claims that they would turn the filthy, odorous, and contaminated landfill into a nature reserve.
When Viridor was granted permission to burn garbage under a £1 billion contract for their Beddington incinerator and release tons of harmful gasses into the atmosphere, the rewilding of the land was eventually offered as an environmentally beneficial compromise in the planning requirements.
A significant portion of the Wandle Valley Regional Park is made up of the 400-acre Beddington Farmlands.
Thames Waste had been using it as a landfill since 1998, and Viridor had taken it over after purchasing it in 2005.
Five years ago, the landfill closed since non-recyclable material was now disposed of in an incinerator. By the end of 2023, Viridor had a legally binding deadline to turn the landfill into a wildlife refuge.
Despite Viridor’s lack of effort and lack of commitment to the repair, Sutton Council officials said they were unable to take action until after the 2023 deadline.
This seemed a little strange because in February 2018, Viridor was the target of an enforcement case. That case is still pending.
Viridor sold its landfill properties, including Beddington, to Frank Solutions Ltd., a business located on the Isle of Man, in March 2022. Valencia Waste Management Ltd. replaced Viridor Waste Management Ltd.
Valencia was even more negligent than Viridor, who utterly failed to finish the restoration.
In May 2023, Sutton threatened an injunction to compel Valencia to finish the restoration in a letter before action, which is a legal yellow card.
This prompted Valencia to take action—not to fulfill their responsibilities for the Farmlands, but to look for legal and planning loopholes that would allow them to avoid taking any action.
Valencia asked Sutton Council, the planning authority, for pre-application guidance in order to modify the restoration’s parameters.
Valencia stated that “because of concerns over the acid grassland habitats and the challenge of delivering that without risking the Wandle chalk stream,” the current plan was not feasible or deliverable.
As initially agreed, the landowners are required to complete 190 tasks as part of the restoration program. In 80% of them, Valencia did nothing, according to Sutton Council’s planning staff, and in the cases when they did fulfill its legal obligations, the work was “substandard.”
A council report to a committee last November stated that there was “considerable doubt” about Valencia’s commitment to the project. “Lack of urgency and real commitment” was what they had demonstrated.
Valencia is so committed to fulfilling their legally mandated obligations that no one bothered to attend the council committee meeting.
Four months ago, at a committee meeting, one councillor stated, “It is time for enforcement, not discussion.” With legal support from the renowned company Leigh Day Solicitors, the Wandle Valley Forum is now poised to attempt to compel Sutton Council to take action.
In their objection to Valencia’s planning application to, effectively, erase all of the previous ecological commitments to restoring the Beddington Farmlands, Wandle Valley Forum submitted:
“The future of Beddington Farmlands is of the highest importance for the Wandle Valley. It offers an unprecedented opportunity to achieve transformational outcomes for people and wildlife both locally and strategically.
The site has been identified as one of ‘Ten New Parks’ being promoted across the capital by CPRE London and its significance goes much wider than the Wandle Valley… This has strategic significance at a London-scale.
The failure to deliver the wildlife and public access commitments secured as part of planning consent for the major on-site incinerator has been wholly unacceptable.”
The shocking scale of the shortfall in habitat creation, decline in biodiversity and lack of public access is confirmed by the supporting evidence. It is a cause of widespread public distress.
They initiated the first major online petition for delivering these commitments and contributed to the decision by Sutton Council to initiate the current enforcement action given the failure to meet the 2023 deadline for delivery of the new nature reserve.
They agree with the view expressed by Sutton Council councillors at the Housing Economy and Business Committee on 26 November 2024 that ‘Valencia have categorically failed us’.
What is the background of this objection on Sutton council?
As part of an agreement linked to the construction of a nearby incinerator, this 120-hectare tract in Sutton was supposed to be turned into a nature reserve.
Public access and the protection of important wildlife, especially endangered species like lapwings, were the goals of the reserve.
According to the Wandle Valley Forum, the planning requirements that demand the completion of the nature reserve have not been sufficiently enforced by Sutton Council.
The loss of a £2.2 million bond intended to ensure project funding exacerbates the problem.
The development of the reserve is made more difficult by this financial setback, which has also increased hostilities between the council and neighborhood advocacy organizations.
Residents and environmentalists in the area are concerned about the hold-ups and lack of advancement, seeing it as a breach of the initial agreement.