PLANS are in place by Bucks County Council to dump two million tonnes of waste soil on a country park.

The council has proposed to create a landfill site on Thorney Country Park, near Richings Park, that will be used to hold over two million tonnes of spoil.

The council would use the soil to landscape the lakeline, and use it to make the lake shallower.

A spokesman clarified: “At no stage has HS2 been identified as a key project in respect of this potential contract. The spoil could come from any infrastructure project in the London and Home Counties area, and the timing with HS2 is coincidental.”

Iver Parish Council (IPC) hotly criticised the plan, saying: “It has developed into a wonderful wildlife area, and ideally residents want it to stay that way and not be subject to dumping and eventual landscaping.

“The lake would not be so well stocked with fish, and support the vast range of water fowl and other birds that it does, if there was any leachate into it.”

BCC leader, Martin Tett, said there were plans in place to bring in waste soil by rail, and not by road: “The inert spoil (such as soil) would be brought to the site using agreed rail access. The council would not permit the restoration project to go ahead without the agreement to move spoil via railway to adjacent rail sidings.”

But IPC criticised the rail plan as being “totally non-viable”, saying: “There are very few slots available on it, as was proved by the problems encountered by the owners of Thorney Sidings when trying to remove all the dumped waste by rail recently.

“It took them two years to remove 20,000 tonnes by rail. On this basis it will take 100 years to carry out the planned infill. It is therefore inevitable that HGVs bring the spoil in. With an estimate of 25 tonnes per HGV, that is 160,000 HGV movements on our local roads.”

IPC chairwoman, Dr Wendy Matthews, said: “We’re extremely concerned the plans have got to this stage. There was no consultation to address the concerns of residents. We’ll be left with a barren landscape and no lake. This will generate £6mfor BCC, but there will be no compensation or mitigation for residents.”Mr Tett, said: “The current proposal offers the opportunity to both significantly enhance and upgrade the park to be a fantastic local leisure asset.” and also provide a financial endowment for its future maintenance.

“Depending on the terms of the lease, the project could yield an income of approximately £6 million over a six year period to Buckinghamshire County Council. Some of this money would be used to fund local mitigation and more would be put into an endowment to fund future upkeep and maintenance of the new upgraded Country Park.

“Before the project can move ahead, it will be subject to a full planning process involving extensive public consultation.”