Agenda item

Motion submitted by Councillor Boden regarding Saxon Pit Planning Application. 

Councillor Boden presented a motion on a planning application for expansion of operations at Saxon Pit at Whittlesey, seconded by Councillor Booth and opened for debate.

Members made the following comments:

·         Councillor Booth stated that he fully endorses the motion and there is a need to take as much action as can be taken to protect the residents of Whittlesey. He referred to the air quality monitoring asking that now the equipment is in place what are the results?

·         Councillor Gerstner expressed the opinion that everyone is in agreement on this, with the application being a bad application for Whittlesey and the surrounding area and in the past 7 years there has been dust, noise, pollution and water discharge that is not legally allowed as one of the applicants does not have a permit to do so and the Environment Agency have not been fully transparent. He stated that Councillor Boden has done a good job in leading this. Councillor Gerstner stated that the original application for this site did have the amount that they are now looking to achieve but two years ago when they came to County Council for that planning application the applicant scaled back the application due to, in his view, pressure from local residents and the amount of push back so the applicant applied for much less in terms of waste, disposal, incinerated bottom ash and the amount of traffic movements. He made the point that now two years later there is a revised plan which now resembles the original plan and he believes it is totally wrong the amount of traffic, with a relief road already been talked about, and doubling the amount of HGVs, with Whittlesey having the second highest HGV movements in Fenland, it is not just clean HGVs with the average HGV losing 20 kilos of rubber from its tyres over its lifetime and the noise of the lorries coming in and out, with him witnessing two lorries flaunting the rule of no right turn coming into Whittlesey by turning left and going up to the roundabout coming back through Whittlesey but the applicant cannot be blamed for this as he has put measures in place.  Councillor Gerstner expressed the view that it is the mitigated and cumulative effects for the residents and their welfare and he fully supports the motion.

·         Councillor Nawaz stated that he supports the motion and of particular concern to the residents, who members have a duty to represent, is that this has been going on for long enough over a matter of years and years and he has been party to some of the discussions, seeing a geological chemistry report which indicated a number of toxic substances and not long ago there was a incident where there was a mass death of marine life but apart from the direct toxicity to marine life he thinks there is pollution in the air along with noise, dust and particulate matter emanating from the rubber of the wheels of the lorries as well as the carbon monoxide, sulphur and nitric gases. He acknowledges that there needs to be an industry and there also needs to be residents living side by side, with there needing to be a symbiotic relationship whereby both can benefit from each other but that balance shifted long ago away from the residents and he feels the residents precede these current works by many years. Councillor Nawaz expressed the view that in the first instance it should be that this Council resolves to oppose this application and secondly, should it be approved and the other side of local government decide that residents opinion can be overruled, Fenland District Council officers should be able to monitor the side effects and hopefully even be able to take certain measures to ameliorate those toxic gases, noise and pollution.

·         Councillor Taylor stated that he will support the motion but asked if Councillor Boden would like him to speak to farmers in the area to see if any of their tox reports on their produce have come back any different over the past few years and instead of trying to deal with the Environment Agency how in depth is Middle Level and the Drainage Boards being involved to see if they have got any fungal differences in their waterways?

·         Councillor Roy stated that he will be supporting the motion, it appears after the incinerator there is another company here that does not care about the health and well-being of the residents and that Fenland is becoming a bit of a dumping ground for all kinds of toxic waste

·         Councillor Tierney stated that he will be supporting the motion, he is fed up with Fenland being a dumping ground for every bad policy connected to waste, which needs to be challenged. He feels on issues, such as this, members do all need to stand together and he thinks it is helpful that Councillor Booth seconded the motion, the County Council is currently controlled by Liberal Democrats and whilst planning should never be political people are only human and it is very useful to have a united voice on this issue.

·         Councillor Mrs Laws stated that she attended Whittlesey Town Council Planning Committee and it was a total unanimous decision, they are consultees and were opposed to this application having listened to the residents of Whittlesey and the surrounding areas.

·         Councillor Boden in summing up referred to Councillors Gerstner and Nawaz being correct to identify that one of the issues here is the significant increase in the number of HGV movements and Councillor Nawaz was correct to say that this is not just the inconvenience and the noise but the particulate matter which is emitted by these HGVs, specifically from their tyres rather than their exhausts, with exhaust levels being better regulated now but no improvement in the matter that comes from the tyres. He feels that this means, as far as the particulate matter is concerned, which is a proven danger to health, that the greatest danger lies close to the main road getting access to the site and that is why this Council has its most accurate monitors near to the main roads so it can be seen which pollution may emanate from there. Councillor Boden referred to Councillor Booth asking about the readings, with the equipment having been in place for many years which was supplemented recently as a result of a motion passed at Council by another type of monitor which does not provide the accuracy that is required for evidential purposes but does allow for information to be available in almost real time for members of the public to be able to see, with the accurate monitors taking over a year to produce a reported on their readings and the new monitors which have been put in Hallcroft Road give the opportunity to see on a day-to-day and hour by hour basis whether there is a pollution event taking place and if so how it is monitored and perceived in numerical terms. He continued that this particular monitor has been put in several months ago for repair and recalibration and the provider of the monitor has taken an inordinate amount of time in getting this done, with officers pushing extremely hard but he does understand the monitor is now available to be reinstalled imminently but it does not provide the Council with evidential information. Councillor Boden referred to Councillor Taylor’s suggestion that farmers be approached for their tox reports but stated that one of the big problems is that it is almost impossible to isolate the cause of much pollution so when it is found there is a pollution spike identifying which source is responsible can be extremely difficult and sometimes it is counterintuitive, providing an example and that in summer some of the dust can be agricultural dust. He continued that on occasion the dust leaving Saxon Pit has been witnessed going towards residential areas as it can be thick at times so it is vitally important to monitor what is going on and to oppose what is proposed where there is a significant increase in potential pollution and if it cannot be stopped from happening at least to make sure there is better monitoring and better controls in place to protect the interests of the residents of Fenland.

The motion was approved.

(Councillor Hoy declared that as she would be taking up a position on the Planning Committee for the County Council which would be determining an application on Saxon Pit in due course and took no part in the discussion and voting thereon)