The Lib Dems and I have called on Woking Borough Council and other public authorities to move the local aggregates yard out of the town centre.

The Borough Council has started work on a £115 million project which would transform the area around Victoria Arch.  The Council has already demolished much of ‘The Triangle’ of buildings in the A320 gyratory, and is planning to widen Victoria Arch and create a dual carriageway either side of the railway bridge.

However, this Victoria Arch widening scheme has brought into focus the fact that Woking’s rail aggregates yard is in a completely unsuitable location.  As part of the plans, the aggregate access road would be moved from near Victoria Arch to be via Bradford Close and York Road, currently a quiet residential area.

Alongside the Lib Dem Borough Councillors for the Mount Hermon area, I have called for the aggregate yard to be moved out of Woking town centre altogether and to a more appropriate non-residential location.  Our motion requesting the move will be discussed at Woking Borough Council’s meeting on Thursday 14th October.

The current aggregate access road is awful and unsafe, but the Council’s solution to move the access route to a residential road is not an acceptable solution.  The whole yard should be moved out of the town centre.

My colleagues and I appreciate that moving the yard will not be easy or happen immediately.  As finding an alternative site with decent rail and road connections, and removing the aggregate yard’s safeguarded planning protection will take time.  However, the Surrey County Council, Network Rail and Woking Borough Council need to start working together now to move the aggregate yard as soon as possible.