Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from:

• David Burke – Netheravon Parish Council

Councillors are requested to declare any personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were none, however Councillor Mark Connolly noted that he was a governor at Wellington Academy.

The Board will hear from:

Cllr Toby Sturgis Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member,  Portfolio Holder for or Waste, Property and Development Control Services

Mr Alistair Cunningham- Wiltshire Council, Service Director for Economy and Enterprise   

Andy Conn, Head of Waste Management – Wiltshire Council (WC), and Andrea Pellegram, Hills Waste Solutions, delivered information on the planning proposals arising from the changes to Wiltshire’s Waste Contract as follows:

Andy Conn

·         One of the sites included within the consultation document is the Castledown Business Park.

·         Hills had proposed to develop a Waste Transfer site at Castledown Business Park.

·         Following the formation of a unitary council, Wiltshire’s waste would soon be harmonising the collection of all of the waste across the county. This waste would then need to be managed.

·         Hills were one of the two main contractors used by WC.

·         Services carried out by Hills for Wiltshire included kerbside collection of recyclates, operation of household recycling centres, collection from local recycling sites, delivery of recycled materials, delivery of waste to energy plant and landfill.

·         The duties of WC are to collect and deliver waste safely, avoiding contamination of the environment and ensuring the health and safety of the public and workforce.

·         The strategy of WC is to reduce the amount of waste that ends up at landfill sites.  Thus reducing the negative affect it had on the local environment as well as the global concerns, and making better use of resources.

·         Landfill tax is currently £56/ton this will rise to £80/ton in just a few years.  If WC continued to send the amount of waste to landfill that it did a few years ago, the landfill tax bill would be £16 million per year by 2013.

·         WC currently diverted non recycled waste to Slough to be processed.

·         Ten years ago WC was sending 80% of its waste to landfill, last year this had been brought down to 37%.

·         WC had to provide sites to enable the work to be carried out in a safe location.

·         The proposed site at Castledown would enable the work to be carried whilst meeting the three key needs, which are safe management of waste, reduction of landfill and efficient bulking and delivery of recyclables and non-recycled waste.

·         The sites at Thorny Down and Everleigh would need to be replaced as they did not meet current standards and were not expected to be in use after 2016.

Andrea Pellegram 

• Changes in the WC waste collection service would see all households moving to a fortnightly plastic bottle and cardboard collection in addition to the current collection of paper, cans, glass, foil, clothes and shoes.  A new county-wide green waste collection service will be available, more waste will be recycled and less landfilled and the waste-related carbon footprint will be reduced.
• In addition to the service changes, there is an identified shortfall in the handling capacity for industrial and commercial waste in the county.
• Hills Waste Solutions’ response to the service changes is to increase the capacity for recycling all types of waste to reduce the amount landfilled to reduce the number of lorries used to transport waste between the point where it is collected and finally managed and to make  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Chairman invited questions and comments from the floor, some of these were:

·         Why has the site at Castledown Business Park been chosen when it is so close to the school.  Answer: Castledown Business Park site already had an outline planning permission for B1 (business) B2 (general industrial) and B8 (storage and distribution) uses with associated access, landscaping, parking and servicing, which would allow for businesses other than waste to move in without being required to apply for planning permission, but could still use the same sized lorries.

·         The timings of the vehicle routes used from the Thorny Down site would need to be increased by 40 minutes each way, as it would take the vehicles coming from Salisbury that additional time to reach Ludgershall.

·         The presentation had shown that the object would be to reduce the carbon footprint of the waste service, but where was the evidence to show that this could be achieved by using this site.  Answer: Part of the planning application would require Hills to carry out an assessment of the amount of movements to and from the site.  By bulking up from smaller to larger vehicles, there would be a need for less vehicle movements.

·         What considerations had been given to pest control.  Answer: Hills would be required to meet certain standards and requirements to obtain a permit from the Environment Agency.  The proposal on display is of a closed building with a roof, which helps to control animal and vermin problems.

·         Looking at the figures of the number of vehicles going in and out of the proposed site, it appears that there would be a vehicle either arriving or leaving the site every 2 minutes.  These vehicles would need to pass over a weigh bridge which could lead to lines of queuing lorries along the road.

·         What would be done to ensure major aquifer protection, to avoid pollution of drinking water, and to prevent surface water flooding.  Answer: Hills would have very detailed studies carried out on the drainage for the site, to ensure there would be no chance of flooding. This would also be a requirement of the Environment Agency.

·         The Wellington Academy Parent Governors felt that they did not want the Academy to be associated with the proposed waste transfer site.

·         The tenants of Castledown Business Park who were all owners of small and expanding businesses and local employers felt that if the waste site was to go ahead as planned on the site, they would all take their businesses elsewhere, resulting in more local jobs being lost than would be gained by having the waste site at the park.

·         Why would the current sites at Thorny Down and Everleigh not be able to be used after 2016.  Answer: The planning permission for both of the sites would expire in 2016.  If new planning permission was sought after that, new buildings would be required to meet current standards and secure the necessary permit from the Environment Agency.  The type  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Board will receive information from Alistair Cunningham, Service Director for Economy and Enterprise, Wiltshire Council.

• Consultation on the proposed development of a Waste Transfer site at Castledown Business Park, starts on Monday 13^th June 2011. To view the consultation on line please follow the link below:

• Consultation will run for 8 weeks.

• Comments will be collated and issues arising from the consultation will be addressed by Hills within an application, should they wish to proceed.

• Planning applications can be submitted for consideration.

Councillor Sturgis also urged people to respond to the Planning stage of the development, as this was a separate thing which he was not involved in.

The Board will hear from the Chairman, Councillor Chris Williams.