THE developer behind plans for a golf course at North Weald has dismissed a suggestion that the company has no intention of building a course on the land, and instead will use it as a landfill site.o

Serious concerns were raised regarding the construction of Ongar Park Golf Course during a special district council meeting, when members admitted they did not have a full grasp of what was happening at the site off the A414.

George Dilloway, director with developer UK Golf and Leisure, has told the Guardian the concerns are unfounded.

The most serious fears were raised by Moreton, Bobbingworth and the Lavers parish council clerk Colin Thompson who said: "It is my council's view the primary objective of this site is a landfill site and there's a very strong suspicion a golf course may not emanate.

"It's quite clear this very large amount of material has gone in without proper controls. Many of the (parish) councillors are convinced that contaminated soil is going on to the site."

But Mr Dilloway said: "We've invested something in the region of £700,000 to get where we are with irrigation, sand, greens, tees and almost completing seven holes."

He said work was currently underway filling the 160-acre site with tonnes of soil before it could be shaped into a championship-standard 18-hole golf course, hopefully by September next year.

The specially formed council committee heard concerns about the quality of the soil entering the site, an issue controlled by the Environment Agency.

Committee chairman Malcolm Woollard, who is worried about the safeguards, said: "I'm vaguely uneasy to find a site in our district where we have no ability to check and it is an outside agency which does the checking."

Councillor Norman Clark said: "It is important we can bring pressure on the Environment Agency to see that they do the job well."

Other concerns centred around the 100-odd lorries going in and out of the site each day and the route some of the trucks are taking through Epping High Street and North Weald High Road.

Mr Dilloway said: "The soil is definitely not contaminated. Every bit of soil that comes into the site is vetted. We check all the time; every lorry that comes in gets approximately six checks including visual checks."

Colin Levy, from the Environment Agency, said the checks would be upped only if officers were unhappy with the landfill material.

"We have not been unhappy with the contents of the landfill. I think they have come on one or two occasions a little bit close to the line but in the main the developers are actually maintaining clean and inert waste. We're satisfied that the firm is operating within its legal limitations."

Mr Dilloway said the 100 truck movements a day was the maximum with some days seeing just 50 movements.

He added: "It depends where material is coming from. Whenever possible they go on the M11 and come down the A414 the drivers do not want to go through the villages."

Epping Forest Council is to invite the Environment Agency to the next meeting of the panel and is also seeking a meeting with the site's developers.

9:14am Thursday 12th December 2002

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