More photographs at http://www.bheag.co.uk/j-dickinson-and-son-fire/

It is a local joke that the A6 signposts the recycling plant but not the otherwise sleepy village of Blackrod. Local residents could be forgiven for thinking that the signposts are no longer needed as the second fire, in recent weeks, in the same warehouse, swept through Dickinson’s plant on . . . → Read More: Another recycling fire – Dickinson’s 03/08/2010]]>

More photographs at http://www.bheag.co.uk/j-dickinson-and-son-fire/

It is a local joke that the A6 signposts the recycling plant but not the otherwise sleepy village of Blackrod. Local residents could be forgiven for thinking that the signposts are no longer needed as the second fire, in recent weeks, in the same warehouse, swept through Dickinson’s plant on Station Road on Tuesday evening.

Indeed this is the fourth major fire at local, privately owned recycling plants in less than three years. All in built up residential areas. The other two were at Armstrong’s on Chorley New Road. 

One resident asked “Do we really have  local recycling businesses?  The combustables seem to end up catching fire else being dumped in Pilkington Quarry and the non combustables are piling high at various sites, well above the permitted levels. The national guidance for green belt development PPG2, para 3.15 states “ The visual amenities of the Green Belt should not be injured by proposals for development within or conspicuous from the Green Belt”  It doesn’t come much more conspicuous than this – the buildings aren’t even a camouflaged green colour.”

Another resident commented about the new proposal to build a power plant towards the West of Blackrod.

“The wind direction at Manchester airport is irrelevant. The wind blows either up the valley or down the valley, vortexing over our village. Imagine over 800 tonnes of biofuel (20 fuel tanker’s worth),  together with  a gas station igniting. The plume would rise and engulf our village. If anyone is in doubt about where the plume will travel in normal operation look at the smoke direction and height from the Dickinson’s fire. Equally concerning is that the plant will be totally unmanned. Whilst I am sure that there will be fire precautions at the proposed Blue NG plant, such precautions must also exist at the Dickinson’s and Armstrong’s sites.

It is understood that twenty fire appliances attended the fire. Crown Lane was closed in both directions and with no access to Blackrod Train Station but has now re-opened

More photographs at http://www.bheag.co.uk/j-dickinson-and-son-fire/

KEY DATES

19 August- three planning applications for Pilkington Quarry to be considered by Bolton Council Planning Committee

August – formal application expected by Blue-NG

 http://www.bheag.co.uk/blue-ng/  

 http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/

Updates will be regularly posted on this site.

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 . . . → Read More: Pilkington Quarry , Makinson Lane, Horwich 80931/08 (update)]]> 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”)

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, . . . → Read More: Pilkington Quarry , Makinson Lane, Horwich 80931/08]]> 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”)