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PLEASE FIND BELOW THE PARISH COUNCILS' SUBMISSION TO HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL. To download a copy of this letter - click here Mr Brian Owen
Team Leader Development Management
New Barnfield Planning Team
Spatial & Land Use Planning
Hertfordshire County Council
County Hall
Peggs Lane
Hertford SG13 8DQ 27th January 2011 - Also e-mailed Available on CHPC web site Colney Heath Parish Council’s formal response to the consultation re Planning Application 6/2570-11, New Barnfield Incinerator at Hatfield Hertfordshire- Energy From Waste EfW) Dear Mr Owen, As team leader on this HCC project, we request the letter is attached to the planning documents to be noted. Colney Heath Parish Council resolved to object to the above application at their meeting on 12th January 2012. The council believes there are key reasons for rejecting the EfW incinerator taking note of the groundswell of public opinion firmly against;- A public meeting was held in Colney Heath on 10th January attended by speakers from HCC-VEOLIA & E/Agency presenting the issues to some 183 public attending. This has informed the basis of our council decision TO OPPOSE THIS DEVELOPMENT Key issues of objection;-. 1. Concerns about pollution, including “Nano” Particles, remain issues where the public are totally unconvinced by assurances over the incinerator. 2. Transport movements-congestion-busy routes-not confined to HCC waste 3. Closeness to residential and educational properties- with a school closure 4. Chimney and visual aspect from afar & comparative height of buildings. 5. Size of plant-eyesore and blot on the landscape-plant safety not proven. 6. Alternatives not considered before a premature signing of a contract (27/7/11) prior to adequate public consultation and involvement. As a county-wide waste facility it makes no sense to site it in or nearby residential properties. The proposed site is in the Green Belt and this is clearly inappropriate development and there will be a loss of amenity space for local residents. A further effect of this application is that we are losing a much valued library facility and possibly a school. There is also the potential loss of a National Cycle Route (12) impacting on green issues of transport, affordable transport to those using the facility. In our view any reasonable person looking at a map of Hertfordshire would conclude the decision to site this incinerator in New Barnfield is completely illogical. It has been argued by the applicants that the 458 lorry movements per day would not represent a significant increase in traffic but we strongly disagree. The increased traffic flow caused by the heavy refuse or bulk carrier lorries travelling to and from the incinerator compound will add to the already congested roads. It will also add noise pollution and the fuel combustion will cause higher levels of carbon emissions, a further source of harmful gases and particulates in surrounding areas. The trunk roads, for example the A414, A1M, M25 and the A10 are already virtually gridlocked in the rush hours and peak times.Negating the secondary transit sites proposed. The Parish Council along with local residents have significant concerns about the potential health impact of the EfW plant. An incinerator could produce the equivalent of 385 million miles of waste truck movements every year leading to increased diesel pollution. This is not exactly a “Green Plan” for reducing greenhouse gasses in the UK, including the Co2 national target by 2020. Has it been proven that the filters on the incinerator will remove fine (<PM2.5) or Nano particles from stack emissions? It is our concern the potential health effects of this fraction may currently be grossly underestimated and not sufficiently regulated at this time. We appreciate that strict UKAS standards have to be met with regard to performance of the testing equipment, but in Europe the monitoring is conducted totally independently from the principle interest organisation. If that system was applied here it would provide additional assurance that the monitoring would be rigorous without potential conflict of interest. The technology is suggested as being safe but what happens if there are risks not fully assessed, or we are unfortunate enough for a low risk event to occur. Many residents here experienced the noise and smoke arising from the fuel explosion at Buncefield-Hemel Hempstead and we were all told that the operation was safe. On a precautionary principle alone this facility should be located away from large populated areas because it could adversely affect all within 15km, especially given the stack emissions that include-SOx-HCl-HF-NOX- and particulates. If Hertfordshire could achieve an increase of its recycling rate to a figure of 80% plus, then the business case for the incinerator is completely flawed. Therefore if the rate of recycling goes up. as expected because of a national target by 2020, then the amount of waste going to land fill would plummet. This potential is being disregarded. We feel that the County Council has not adequately researched or proven any other methods of waste disposal, Bio Mass etc. Local residents are not convinced that alternative systems have been thoroughly researched and quantified and that there are strong reasons for them being discounted in favour of Incineration. (EfW) We urge that this application is withdrawn and more research is done on the many alternative waste methods and options open to local authorities. Recycling targets need to be raised and alternative sites identified away from residential properties. To suggest that New Barnfield was chosen because it was or is HCC owned land is not satisfactory. Also doubt over covenants for the use of this land being queried in the public comments made at our open meeting on 10th January 2012. Further we are unclear if the public had adequate access to the HCC consultation document commissioned to Barton Willmore LLp on the alternative sites. Appropriate full consultation should ocurr without delay and renewed effort expended to identify a more appropriate location/s if EfW really is the only viable option. We further suggest the partnership contract signing in July 2011 by HCC did not involve adequate public consultation and leaves HCC with a severe financial penalty if it is cancelled, thereby possibly influencing their overall judgement on this matter. We also suggest this agreement was not generally known or explained until recent public meetings addressing this application that has generated huge local concern. Yours sincerely John Dean
Clerk to the Council
Colney Heath Parish Council c/c Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP Communities Secretary Anne Main MP National Society for Clean Air & Env Protection NSCA Rt Hon Grant Shapps Andrew Milsted-Veolia Plc St Albans District Council Cllr Stuart Pile Hatfield & Welwyn Borough Council Highways Agency Hatfield Town Council Southfields School Governors London Colney PC Friends of the Earth North Mymms PC County/Dist Cllr C Brazier Ridge PC Dist Cllr J Day Shenley PC Prospective MP Sandy Walkington Sandridge PC HIA Hatfield Against Incenerator Wheathampsted PC-Dist Cllr T Swendell Barton Willmore LLp St Stephens PC Veolia Environmental Services Ltd Harpenden TC Paul Zukowskj
Content 3 pages Suggested reference;- Minutes of meeting Proposed Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility-New Barnffield-Community Engagement Group-26th October 2011-Veolia Environmental Services. NSCA-Nat Soc for Clean Air and Env Protection-*Comparison of Emissions from Waste Management Options Hertfordshire Waste Core Strategy and Development Management Policies Document www.hertsdirect.org/newbarfieldplanning Hatfield Against Inceneration-http://hatfieldanti-inceneration.co.uk website & blog CHPC Web Site has details of presentations from 10th January 2012 Public Meeting- www.colneyheath.org.uk There are other data references in this *paper regarding the EfW plants in the UK already operating or planned
FOLLOWING THE PUBLIC MEETING . . .
. . . held on Tuesday 10th January, regarding the Proposed Recycling and Energy from
Waste Facility - the New Barnfield Incinerator, the speakers on the night have made
their presentations available to the public to view - thanks to them all for their
help with this. There were a number of speakers on the night and there are three presentations
available to download. 1. ANDREW MILSTED - Veolia E.S.(UK) Ltd
- click here to download the presentation 2. RICHARD BROWN - Hertfordshire County Council
- click here to download the presentation 3. BEN FREEMAN - Environment Agency
- click here to download the presentation If you wish to comment on the proposal you can do so Online, By Letter,
or Via the Parish Office. The Herts County Council page which has ALL the details is
http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/envplan/plan/planningapps/nbplanapp/ There is more information available on the Hatfield Against Incineration site
- http://www.hatfield-anti-incineration.co.uk/ To download an objections response form click here PLEASE NOTE THAT RESPONSES MUST BE WITH COUNTY HALL BY TUESDAY 31st JANUARY If you have any queries, please contact the Parish Office - 01727 825 314
or by email -
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
THE NEXT PARISH MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE ON :  Thursday 2nd February 2012
at the Charles Morris Hall, Tyttenhanger Green at 7.45pm
*Please consult the parish office (01727 825 314) for confirmation of these dates and venues as they may be subject to change if any urgent Parish business so demands.
PARISH MATTERS- DECEMBER 2011
Just What Is The Answer? . . . As I write this shortly after Bonfire Night, the clocks have gone back; it is dark as I leave the office after work and already the Christmas catalogues are dropping through the door. Fortunately, it has been unseasonably warm, so the central heating has only been needed intermittently – a real bonus in these times of rapidly rising energy prices. And energy generation from waste is one of the issues that have been concerning your Parish Council over recent months, as the national drive to find alternative sources of energy starts to have a local impact. It is clear that tighter environmental standards and a lack of suitable landfill sites mean that we can no longer continue to just bury our rubbish – local authorities are being charged a landfill tax for rubbish disposed of in this way and so are under pressure to find alternative methods of disposal to ensure they get the best value for their ratepayers. At the same time, the UK is committed to increasing the proportion of energy it generates from renewable and non-fossil fuel sources – it has a target of 20% “green” energy by 2020. So you can understand why projects that generate power from waste are attractive to local authorities, since they can both help reduce the volume of expensive waste going to landfill, while at the same time helping to increase the amount of power generated from renewable sources. The problem is that in future these types of facility are likely to be smaller and more local than the massive power stations and landfill sites that we have been used to in the past, and so are going to affect more people. Your Parish Council is aware of proposals for two such projects that could have an impact on local residents – an incinerator generating electricity from rubbish at New Barnfield, between Hatfield and Welham Green, and an anaerobic digestion plant at Coursers Road. While the incinerator is not in Colney Heath Parish, the scale of the facility is likely to have an impact on local traffic movements. No formal planning application has yet been made, but the project is supported by Hertfordshire County Council, which has contracted Veolia Environmental Services to build and operate the plant, and so the application is likely to be viewed favourably. The proposals currently being consulted on envisage a facility that can deal with up to 380,000 tonnes of “black bin” rubbish per year (over 1,000 tonnes a day) which Veolia says will require 180 lorry movements daily, or 15 per hour assuming 12 hour days. The raw waste from kerbside collections would be sorted at the incinerator site, with the recyclable and compostable elements removed (presumably meaning more vehicle movements). This would leave around 7% “residual waste” – material with no other value that would otherwise be sent to landfill – which would be incinerated at the site. After burning, there would be two grades of ash – an inert “bottom ash” that can be used in the construction industry, plus a highly toxic “fly ash” that is placed in sealed bags and buried in deep pits in Cheshire. Veolia claims that harmful exhaust gases will be “scrubbed” in a three stage process as they progress through the 75 metre high chimney to satisfy the Health Protection Agency’s standards. As the exhaust leaves the burners, they will drive an electricity generator, making enough power to service 5,000 houses, says Veolia, although it is not clear whether this will benefit local residents. The whole site is under cover, and its operation would be monitored by the Environment Agency. More local is the project to build an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Coursers Farm in Colney Heath. This process uses a sealed fermentation vessel where microbes ferment organic waste materials – in this case food waste – to produce methane, which can either be used directly as a gas energy source or to generate electricity, and a “digestate” by-product for use as an organic fertiliser for farmers to spread on their land. The presentation to the Parish Council envisaged an intake of up to 30,000 tonnes per year. Again, no formal planning application has yet been made in this case, but it is clear that servicing the intake and removing waste products would require a significant increase in vehicle movements to deliver material to the site and remove the residue. These are tricky issues. On the one hand, everyone wants their rubbish to simply disappear each week, while modern life without electricity at the flick of a switch is almost unthinkable. And yet we have to find alternatives to landfill, while concern over energy security means that local electricity generation must increasingly help to supply the power we all take for granted, whether it is solar panels on our houses or larger agricultural schemes on our farms. (In Germany there are already over 6,000 on-farm AD plants). But at the same time, people are understandably concerned about their quality of life, especially when it comes to a potential increase in lorry traffic and air pollution. The decisions on these projects, if and when the applications are submitted, will be taken at district or county level, although the Parish Council will be making its view known in the planning consultation, so please let your councillors know your opinions on these matters. Veolia’s proposals can be viewed via the www.veoliaenvironmentalservices.co.uk/Documents/Publications/Hertfordshire/Publications
/Veolia_CommunityUpdate2_ElectronicBookletVersion.pdf webpage, while the Hatfield against Incineration website – http://www.hatfield-anti-incineration.co.uk/ – offers an alternative view. The Chronicle’s editor, Dave Rodway successfully completed his ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in late October – all 5,895m of it – and is back to tell the story. It is not too late to support his magnificent effort on behalf of the Parkinson’s UK charity – the www.justgiving.com/drodway webpage is still open for donations. And finally, on behalf of the Parish Council, and the Parish Office, can I wish everybody a very happy and peaceful Christmas and all the best for 2012. Jamie Day
Colney Heath Parish Council THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE CHRONICLE 146 – WINTER EDITION – PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 2011
News from CHPC - Freedom of Information Below you will find a link to a PDF file which details where information can be found / obtained relating to all aspects of the Parish Council's operations. Click on this link to download the detailed list
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