Elmbridge faces up to £1.7m to clear illegally dumped soil from the Claygate rugby pitches, so it plans to sell the site. Cabinet decides on 16 September.
Elmbridge Borough Council is preparing to sell the playing fields at Oaken Lane in Claygate rather than clean them up itself, because clearing the soil dumped on them could cost the council as much as £1.7 million.
Cabinet meets at 7pm on Wednesday 16 September at the Civic Centre in Esher to decide. The report in front of it is titled “Disposal of land in Oaken Lane, Claygate, Esher”. The council’s own news announcement, published on 8 September, does not use the word disposal, sale or freehold anywhere.
What is buried under the pitches
The site is 2.43 hectares and has been a sports ground since 1958. Elmbridge Eagles Rugby League have played there since about 2006, and the club’s trustees held the lease.
In 2013 the club won Sport England funding to improve two rugby pitches, which drained badly on clay. Planning permission followed in October 2016 for upgrading the playing surface, including importing recovered soils. The soil was controlled by an Environment Agency permit issued to a recycling company, which allowed less than 15,348 cubic metres of material.
Work started in July 2018. Residents and councillors raised concerns about what was arriving that November. Work stopped in December 2018 for bad weather and, the report says, never restarted because the assurances officers asked for never came.
By then the council’s report puts the amount imported at about 32,696 cubic metres, roughly 17,348 cubic metres, or 113 per cent, more than the permit allowed. The council’s public announcement describes the same material as approximately 52,000 tonnes.
The report also records that:
- very limited information exists on where much of the material came from, and no reliable account of its history survives
- no continuous sampling or validation was carried out after it was placed on site
- the Environment Agency identified asbestos containing materials in one imported load during its single site visit; that load was rejected, but the report says it cannot be confirmed that other loads did not contain any
- neither the Environment Agency permit nor the contaminated land planning condition has been discharged
- because there is no permit covering the material, all of it is now classed as waste that is “effectively there illegally”
A 2026 geo-environmental report by RSK Geosciences found no chemical contaminants posing a significant risk to site users. More than 60 investigation locations were sampled and one isolated sample of cement bound asbestos was found. The council says the risk to end users is low, and that the material would meet the chemical requirements for a sports pitch, though any new facility would need new surfacing.
The Environment Agency has told the council it is treating the site as abandoned, and that the material is unlikely to cause environmental harm if left where it is. A permit would probably be needed to cap or remove it.
The money the press release leaves out
The council has two quotes for remediation. Removing the soil down to the level originally permitted might cost around £0.85 million. Both quotes ran up to £1.7 million, and the report treats that higher figure as the council’s financial risk if the Environment Agency ever enforces against it as landowner.
The council has already spent on getting to this point:
| Project cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Commercial advice | £16,000 |
| Legal advice | £25,000 |
| Environmental consultants | £13,470 |
| Other marketing and project costs | £4,650 |
| Total | £59,120 |
Two other things are in the papers and not in the announcement. The council served a forfeiture notice on the original trustees in November 2025, then completed a Deed of Surrender instead, taking the land back with vacant possession at the end of June 2026. And it had sent a letter before action to a waste company in November 2025 over the unauthorised deposits, but dropped that because the company has since gone into liquidation and pursuing it is no longer considered a prudent use of council money.
The council is explicit that it will not pay for the clean-up. It intends to sell the freehold to a leisure operator who will fund it, and the bidding guidelines tell bidders that requests for council money towards remediation are “unlikely to be considered”.
Rugby league is not guaranteed a place
Officers have met Elmbridge Eagles and offered help through the Rugby Football League to put a bid together. But the report is direct about the limits of that: the evaluation of bidders will not require a condition for rugby league to be played on the site, because adding one would restrict the field of bidders.
The report describes the club as strategically important, one of the few rugby league clubs in the south east, running teams from under 7s to 16-plus including disability and girls’ teams.
Padel is named as a likely use, with a warning attached
Officers write that padel has been suggested for the site, either alone or alongside a playing field, and that a fast-growing sport short of courts may find the location attractive.
They then set out what would have to be weighed: noise from play, which they describe as distinctive and repetitive, extended hours of use, lighting, more comings and goings, the look of courts, fencing and lighting columns, and parking, ecology and drainage.
Green Belt, and why it is not grey belt
The site is Green Belt, with the northern part in flood zones 1 and 2. Surrey’s 2018 assessment scored this land 5 out of 5 for preventing neighbouring towns merging, and described it as playing a critical role in keeping Esher, Claygate and Greater London visually and physically separate.
That score matters. Under the 2026 National Planning Policy Framework, land can be treated as “grey belt”, and built on more readily, only if it does not strongly contribute to certain Green Belt purposes. Because this site scores strongly on that purpose, officers say it does not meet the grey belt definition. A housing bid would be unlikely to get permission, and the report says the council would not be obliged to accept a high bid that depended on one.
The public footpath across the land, reference UB107/29/10, stays either way.
What it means for you
The decision is Wednesday, and the timetable after it is short because Elmbridge Borough Council ceases to exist on 1 April 2027, when it becomes part of East Surrey Council.
- 16 September 2026: Cabinet decides whether to market the site
- Autumn 2026: marketing, including adverts in Estates Gazette and a microsite for bidders
- 14 October 2026: an informal information meeting for interested parties, which the report suggests could let sports clubs team up on a joint bid
- December 2026: shortlisted bidders present to an informal member steering group, advised by Active Surrey
- January 2027: the council may be able to decide. If the price exceeds £100,000, East Surrey Council must approve it too
- 1 April 2027: East Surrey Council takes over, and with it the enforcement decisions on this site
If you live near Oaken Lane, the practical question is what arrives after the lorries: the council has flagged padel noise and lighting itself, and any scheme will need planning permission, at which point there is a formal chance to comment. Planning applications in the borough are tracked on our Elmbridge planning news page.
Anyone can attend the Cabinet meeting or watch it on the council’s webcast. One small oddity: Appendix B, the bidding guidelines published with the agenda before the meeting, already states that the council “at its Cabinet Meeting on 16 September 2026 agreed that it would not fund remediation of the site”.
The council says an engagement and communications plan will keep residents informed of the marketing process and the decision points.
Sources
- Elmbridge Borough Council, Cabinet, 16 September 2026, item 4: Disposal of land in Oaken Lane, Claygate, Esher for the site area, the history, the permitted and imported soil volumes, the asbestos findings, the remediation quotes, the £59,120 project costs, the Deed of Surrender, the dropped letter before action, the Green Belt and grey belt assessment, the padel comments, the rugby league condition and the timeline.
- Appendix B, proposed bidding guidelines for the five bid criteria and the statement that bids seeking council money for remediation are unlikely to be considered.
- Elmbridge Borough Council, Cabinet agenda, 16 September 2026 for the meeting date, time and item order.
- Elmbridge Borough Council news, 8 September 2026: taking steps to secure a long-term future for Oaken Lane site for the council’s public account, the 52,000 tonnes figure and the portfolio holder’s comments.
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