A £20 million pound brick and tile factory could soon be on its way to yet another  country lane in the East, on the outskirts of Ewhurst!

The residents living over there in the East of the borough could be forgiven for thinking that the lunatics were taking over the Asylum! The scheme has already been described by the locals as a ‘bombshell’ about to hit them.

Look back a year or so, and one of the most famous clay tile making factories in the South of England – Swallow Tiles – was closed down – and million pound Linden Homes were built alongside a roundabout nicknamed ‘Kamikaze Corner’ in Ewhurst Road, Cranleigh. Some of which homes are already on the move!  The developer even provided a footpath to Ewhurst!  THEN…

• Rudgwick Brickworks – CLOSED.
• Cranleigh Brick & Tile CLOSED and  grab lorries  from all parts of Surrey will thunder along the A281 and through the country lanes every seven minutes for the next five years infilling the site with their spoils – so homes can be built off Knowle Lane. Cranleigh. 

Not a word of course from By-Pass Byham and the Bramley crowd, because the Parish Council trousered a golden egg for allowing the lorries to thunder through its hallowed high street along the A281 to Knowle Lane.

Now Weinberger Limited has submitted a Consultation application to Waverley Planners seeking consent  for a new tile and brick factory, adjacent to its existing brickworks, and including Norman Marshalls scrapyard, in a narrow country lane in Horsham Lane, Ewhurst. The entire scheme, if allowed, will start in 2019, just in time to provide millions of bricks and tiles for the thousands of homes to be built in ‘Your Waverley’ and the many thousands more elsewhere in the South of England!

Some years back, 2006 to be precise, this site was earmarked for potential gravel extraction and landfill. Major objections were raised concerning a site of ecological value and the impact of lorries, etc on narrow rural roads.
 
Nothing has changed yet Wienerberger obviously feel they have.

We cynics at the Waverley Web would love to identify how much money Weinberger  have made in political donations over the years and to whom – that would throw up an interesting aspect, WOULDN’T IT?  We understand from the locals the company has masses of existing capacity so we can’t quite understand any justification for expansion unless of course they intend on supplying house building bricks for the whole of the South of England. Which, of course, we expect is exactly what it  intends as its’ other plant is in Doncaster! 

COULD ‘YOUR WAVERLEY’ SOON BECOME THE BRICK AND TILE MANUFACTURING MACHINE FOR THE WHOLE OF THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND? 

The entire project which includes the extraction from over 43 hectares of land, has a proposed end date of WAIT FOR IT…WAIT FOR IT!

We can see it now – thousands of lorries hurtling through, Rowhook, Wallis Wood, Cranleigh and perhaps even Bramley’s Barmy By-Pass Byham’s patch – delivering their wares to builders countrywide for the next half century! Even through Ewhurst village across Winterfold and through the Shere Cut! Or, perhaps through Forest Green onto the A24?

So the site where dinosaurs roamed millions of years ago – could soon be churning up even more fodder for the Natural History Museum – and the dinosaurs at Ewhurst Parish Council, who haven’t posted anything about the scheme, at least not that we can find on its  website – or on the village notice boards – Secrecy seems to be the name of the game these days – (even with parish councils). No doubt the Parish Council is too busy constructing  its’ Neighbourhood Plan! 

Might find their consultation meeting, to be held this month, attracts a  good attendance.

For more information: www.waverley.gov.uk/planning

Here’s a map of the site:  All we can say is WOW!