Unfinished work: Viridor first promised to conduct wildlife restoration work at Beddington Farmlands in 2005
Valencia Waste Management, owners of Beddington Farmlands former landfill site, are ‘arrogant’ and have no intention of carrying out agreed wildlife restoration, according to LibDem councillor Ruth Dombey
Bond battler: Cllr Ruth Dombey was fiercely critical of Valencia at last week’s committee
A multi-million-pound waste management firm is “running rings” around Sutton Council as it dodges its legal responsibilities over long-delayed restoration works to a nature reserve in the borough.
That’s according to a councillor from Sutton’s ruling Liberal Democrats – the very same group that handed planning permission for the waste incinerator at Beddington to Viridor, with conditions attached that the multinational should also conduct important nature conservation work on the neighbouring Beddington Farmlands reserve.
Nearly a decade later, those agreed works have never been done – yet senior officials at the council seem unable, or unwilling, to instigate any enforcement action. And now, even Sutton’s LibDems appear to be turning against the big business interests that they have nurtured for two decades.
Even Ruth Dombey, one of the LibDem architects of the £1billion toxic deal with Viridor, has come out fighting over the eco-disaster that was allowed to occur on her watch.
Dombey, a councillor for Sutton North, was the all-powerful leader of Sutton Council from 2012 until she stood down in May this year.
Viridor first made promises to carry out re-wilding work on the landfill site in 2005. Re-wilding the landfill site was offered up as some form of environmentally friendly sop, a quid pro quo against Viridor being allowed to burn waste and send tons of noxious fumes into the atmosphere.
Since the planning agreement with the LibDem council in 2015, Viridor has sold its interests for the 400-acre former landfill site to another firm, Valencia.
Speaking at last week’s housing, environment and neighbourhoods committee, Dombey accused Valencia of being “arrogant”, with “little intention of carrying out the works that they are legally obliged to do”.
The HEB committee was discussing the council’s possible course of action against Valencia, who are now seeking to change their planning conditions to escape all responsibilties for restoration at Beddington Farmlands, a vitally important location for wildlife across south London.
One independent councillor, Tim Foster, was clear: “It is time for enforcement, not discussion.” Sam Cumber, a LibDem councillor, said Valencia are “running rings” round Sutton Council officials.
And council officials eventually steered the committee towards anothr three-month delay, rather than taking any action.
The agreed deadline for the complete restoration of the Beddington Farmlands had been December 31 last year.
Inaction: Helen Bailey: Sutton Council’s chief executive
But council staff, including Sutton’s chief executive, Helen Bailey, appeared reluctant to make any moves that could upset or unsettle Valencia, even though the terms of the planning agreement could see the council fine the company millions of pounds for failing to deliver.
The planning obligation had come with a £1.8million bond, to be used to finance the works on the Farmlands if the landowner defaulted on the agreement. With index linking over almost 10 years, that could now be worth £2.5million to Sutton Council.
Council officials advised the committee that Valencia had claimed the bond had “lapsed”.
Dombey was having none of that nonsense. She said: “A bond is a legal obligation that cannot be cancelled for any reason.”
Council staff attending the committee were unaware of the potential cost of the restoration works that remain to be done. “One hundred and fifty-two of the tasks not completed are not dependent on the planning condition,” Dombey said of the restoration plan. “Why do we have to wait?”
Dombey never offered any explanation her handbrake U-turn in approach to Valencia.
Planning is about building relationships with applicants like Valencia, Dombey continued. “But there is no relationship because they absolutely proved themselves to be arrogant, and have little intention of carrying out the works that they are legally obliged to do.”
Read more: Beddington’s wildlife plan has ‘failed’ say environmentalists
Read more: Viridor’s charge sheet: incinerator operator’s eco-vandalism
Read more:After a decade of delay, Sutton condemns Viridor. Sort of
Read more: CPRE tells Mayor Khan to make Farmlands a new public park
Read more: Beddington’s ‘blue space’ could boost NHS mental health care
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