Two communities – one cause
There will be a meeting for “friends of Lever Park” and their supporters on Thursday the 10th December 2009, it will be held at HORWICH CONSERVATIVE CLUB, Church Street Horwich, with an 8-00pm start.
Agenda: (i) Report on the Ombudsman’s final decision.
(ii) Report on complaint made to the Information Commissioners Office.
(iii) Outlining our intentions following the final decision by the LGO
(iv) A-O-B
The officers report is now on-line, with a recommendation to approve the application.
We would encourage anyone reading this article to read the reponses from the consultees (not all are available on-line !) and try to reconcile this with the report and the attached conditions.
(The planning application link on the right hand side will take you to the relevant council site)
We would also draw your attention to decision notices 50252/97 (limiting quarry operation until 2007) and 61530/02 (also limiting quarry operation until 2007 and also limiting transport), not 2042 as indicated in the application and officers report.
The application form advises 1.2 Million cubic metres for filling, subsequent correspondence from MPG would indicate this volume has now increased to 2.05 million tonnes.
We have identified a significant number of other discrepencies / issues.
An excellent quote from the Greater Manchester Geology Unit (GMGU) states :-
“An environmental statement should be comprehensive and include all relevant environmental information to inform the decision maker, consultees and the public and thereby enable scrutiny, comment and informed decision making”
The Planning meeting will consider this application at 14:00 on 29 October 2009.
The public are invited to attend
Please see the new application 83299/09 (click “home”)
Public planning meeting Bolton Town Hall. Thursday 29 October at 14:00
Site visit Thursday 29 October 10:10
This application has been discussed for sometime.
There are a large number of changes from the original application, which proposes to extract over three million tonnes of aggregate from the quarry and also process aggregate from external sources, in a 1.5 hectare site.
The application includes refilling the quarry with inert waste, to the original ground waste , ie filling with more than three million tonnes of waste.
Concerns include, veichle movement, noise (including blasting), air and water pollution, effect on the greenbelt.
At the Special meeting of the Horwich planning committee 8 October 2009, there were a large number of people who cast doubt on the applicants adherence to current planning and environmental restrictions and the fact that they do not appear to be operating using “best practice”, something that the application states is a pre-requisite.
Please see the new application 83299/09 (click “home”)
In 1973 agricultural land was transformed into the Greenbarn Way estate.
As part of the process it was agreed that the land could only be used for residential properties and would contain a number of open spaces.
Due to increase in population it was deemed that the community centre car park needed to be enlarged. As such a parcel of land was given to the council specifically to enlarge the Community Centre Car Park. This forms part of the required open space on the estate. It is on this land that the applicant wishes to build.
The open plan design of the estate would be comprimised by the fencing around the building
Approximately 25% of the already over utilised carpark would be lost. The carpark is frequently used for community support, eg blood donations.
We are concerned about the above application, as we believe it contains a great deal of misleading information, which may contribute to a favorable bias, both to the planning committee and also the supporting statements.
1. The plant is described as a biomass CHP plant ( CHP–combined heat and power ) …..these plants can be 70-90% efficient
The primary source of fuel is waste wood, not wood from agricultural waste or forestry
There is no proposal to use the thermal energy which is c 75% of the total energy output- sufficient to heat nearly 30,000 homes, as such it is not a CHP plant, this also makes it c 20% efficient
In the absence of any process detail, the report fails to mention how this thermal energy will be dissipated eg cooling tower with resultant steam cloud etc etc
2 Quantity of Wood required , and the impact on transport and noise
The QC indicates that the plant will use 85,000 tonnes per annum. However other areas of the report suggest the volume will be 150,000 tonnes. The latter figure is more likely.
It states that the wood may derive from Armstrong’s site, who are processing 120,000 tonnes of timber and 70,000 tonnes of green wood waste per annum. Figures from the environment agency show Armstrong’s as receiving only 76,000 tonnes of total waste in the last year, and an average of 71,000 tonnes per annum over the last three years. Not all of this quantity is wood.
It is therefore probable that the number of deliveries would need to be increased over 100%
The supporting statement further mentions on two occasions that the total quantity of wood may not originate form Armstrong’s, ie there would be increased deliveries of 150,000 tonnes per annum – a 200% increase. Irrespective of vehicles leaving with processed waste or empty.
This is totally inconsistent with the supporting transport and noise statement, which even suggest transport will decrease.
3 Emissions
Environmental Risk Assessment (EPR-H1 part 2) and the Waste Incineration Directive (WID) require the emissions originating from a proposed development to be defined and in what quantities. The study has just used the limits defined in the WID, even though the WID states that this should not be done.
For a new installations estimates of releases are required. where possible, estimates of releases should be backed up by information from pilot trials or similar operations. This has not been done.
The assessment should consider the Meteorology and local topography i.e.
The wind speed and direction data used is from south Manchester so it is not relevant to this location.
Rainfall levels have not been considered even though this would be a significant route for pollutants to enter the SSSI.
Temperature – no data provided
In a valley – not mentioned
EPR-H1 part 2 defines lower levels than specified in the report to protect vegetation and ecosystems in an SSSI. The adjacent Red Moss is an SSSI
• NOx value 30 µg/M3 not 40 µg/M3
SO2 value 20 µg/M3 not 125 µg/M3
In addition the background pollutant levels are measure in Wigan and Manchester, rather than Horwich / Blackrod / Bolton. No account is made of the recent planning approval on the Markland Farm Biomass plant.
The statement stresses that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is not required, but the EIA guidance document suggests quite the opposite. Especially as the current application does not clearly identify the likely emissions and in what quantities they can de expected.
It is clear that there a number of significant errors / omissions / contradicting statements within the application. In the absence of clarification on these points the current application cannot be acceptable
Please see the Planning application link on the right hand side of thi s page
For further information click on the RHS link “Himalayan Balsam” on the right of this page
Energy 64 (Bolton) Lmited, has applied for a wood burning, 20 MWe electricity generating plant on Chorley New Road, Horwich.
The plant is described as a biomass CHP (Combined heat and power) plant, however the plant will use recycled wood rather than agricultural waste. The heat energy will be enough to heat nearly 30,000 homes, providing they are withing a 1.5 Km radius of the site. Unfortunately there are no plans in the application to use this energy, nor is there any indication as to what will happen to the wasted energy.
At this time a plant that could be nearly 90% energy efficient is likely to be less than 20% efficient.
There are a number of other discrepencies within the application and BEAG ha written to the planning department asking for clarifiction
The application number is 82447/09 should you wish to write to the planning department with your arguments for or against the plant ideally by 23rd July
The Annual General Meeting ( AGM ) of the Blackrod and Horwich Environmental Action Group will take place on the 30th June, 7-30pm for 8.00 pm at the Methodist Church, New Street Blackrod.
Items for inclusion are invited by contacting either a committe member or else via the website comments option
Orchid Environmental, have withdrawn their appeal.
Many thanks to everyone who took the time to write a letter of objection.
Unfortunately the power plant at Markland Farm has been approved.
The wood fuelled gasification plant will be one of the largest in Europe, right in the middle of the Greenbelt.
A plant this size could have supplied the majority of Blackrod with free heating. Unfortunately the local council voted unanimously for the facility to heat approximately half a dozen houses, so this wasted heat energy is likely to now form a massive steam cloud between Blackrod and Rivington.
Several local residents have complained about the planning process – more information to follow shortly
The Blackrod and Horwich Environmental Action Group need your help with this threat to our two communities. .
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