THE fight against the Alton Road domestic waste sand-pit in Wrecclesham is far from over, claims campaign group TRASH.

The group is now engaging lawyers to process its claim against Surrey County Council, on the grounds that the authority has failed to handle the issue with due legal process.

Other grounds for seeking a judicial review centre around human rights law, as the campaigners believe they have not been given a fair hearing.

This action comes despite last week's news of the Secretary of State rejecting calls for a public enquiry into it, authorising the county council to deal with the issue "as they saw fit."

In February it was decided by the county council that provisional approval to the planning bid by RMC would be given, but it has taken seven months for a response from the Secretary of State.

These plans have been bitterly opposed by TRASH, along with a number of residents, since the company made its bid to use the site two years ago.

Tony Goodall, director of the TRASH Campaign felt it would be a "disaster" if the pit were to be given the green light.

This was due to a number of environmental and health problems the group claim would result from using the waste site.

Further health implications from landfill sites were highlighted at a meeting of the TRASH group last week.

Campaigners claimed that research published in the British Medical Journal this August revealed "small but measurable increase in certain types of birth defects" for residents within two kilometres of landfill.

Mr Goodall said 300 people had contributed £19,000 in legal costs to date in fighting the case against using the site, and said they "would take it as far as we have to" in order to resolve the issue, and have continued to raise funding for it.

A Surrey County Council spokesperson commented they were "pleased" with the Secretary of State's decision.

He believed the council had followed procedure in dealing with RMC's application, and said that they had not received notification of a judicial review, but would "take the matter seriously, and help all they could."