Ongar residents will finally say good riddance to bad rubbish at the end of the year when the LECA landfill site closes its doors to lorries carrying waste.
The controversial hole in the ground will be capped with a layer of clay when planning permission runs out in December and landfill operators begin what they call "restoration" of the site.
The news of the closure and transformation to woodland has been greeted with a cry of relief from Ongar County Councillor, Gerard McEwen, who has fought long and hard for the site to become a huge "parish park".
He said: "This will be a good year for the people of Ongar when we finally see the back of that site - it has been a long process but we have established it as a parish park and there will not be any going back."
According to Mike Snell from Waste Recycling Group (WRG) who run the Mill Lane site, lorries carrying waste will be replaced by lorries carrying eco-friendly flora and fauna for the new woodland almost immediately after the closure.
Mr Snell said: "The plan is to restore the LECA site to a mixture of agricultural land and landscaped parkland for Ongar residents to use so there will still be lorries but not in the same number."
The Waste Recycling Group have also set aside a lump sum for the long-term maintenance of the 29 acre park and Cllr McEwen is very excited about the prospect of this new feature of the Ongar countryside.
He said: "We want this park to be a place for the local people to enjoy. There are no plans to advertise it outside the area. We don't want carloads of people coming down at the weekends."
Although the tree-planting has already begun the makeover will take around 18 months to complete but Mr Snell acknowledges WRG will need to remain on the site for many years to come.
He said: "We have to maintain the site because it will continue to generate landfill gases which we will capture and burn to make electricity for the grid in that area. We will also be monitoring the contaminated water that comes out of the site."
The chequered history of the site includes many public protests, most recently against an increase in the number of lorries delivering waste and a one year extension to the landfill permission.
The site was due to close at the end of 2002 but caused uproar when a last minute reprieve meant that WRG were granted an extension to their contract to allow them to fill the hole.
Ongar resident, Judy Cowan, who led the Roding Valley Conservation Group into battle with WRG on several occasions, says she will hold her celebrations until the final lorry leaves because the group have been here before.
She said: "If this really is the end it will make such a difference to lives of people in Ongar not to have these lorries in the High Street."
Published Monday, May 19, 2003
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