Piltdown Action Against Landraise

ESCC See Sense Over Land Raise

2011-10-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

On Monday 3rd October East Sussex County Council published their new Draft Waste and Minerals Plan, superseding the ‘Preferred Strategy’ published in October 2009, which had identified a site between Newick and Piltdown as potential for land raise.
All residents will no doubt be delighted to hear that ESCC have now revised their policy and the new plan does not include any Areas of Search for land raise or landfill.
Their revised approach comprises:
* Reducing the need for land disposal by reducing the amount of waste produced
* Making provision for increased treatment (e.g. recycling or recovery) of waste
* Recognising that the declining amounts of waste still requiring land disposal should utilise existing planning permissions outside the Plan area
* Planning for additional capacity for recycling/recovery facilities equivalent to the likely exports of waste for landfill.

This is a draft plan which will have to go through all the consultation processes, but if approved should be adopted in January 2013. The plan can be viewed at: www.eastsussex.gov.uk/yourcouncil/about/committees/meetingpapers/cabinet/2011/110ctober.htm.
Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign. It was vital that we made ourselves heard over such a serious and threatening issue and you helped us to do that. We will continue to monitor progress of the plan and keep you informed via our website www.piltdownaction.com.

PAAL Committee

PAAL Press ESCC To Get On With Waste Plan

2011-01-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

East Sussex County Council has published an Analysis of Comments on the Preferred Waste Strategy* and Factsheet 2** reporting on the findings of their initial research into the potential land raise / landfill sites in East Sussex.
* Analysis of Comments on the Preferred Waste Strategy

**Copy of Factsheet 2 can be obtained on request from East Sussex County Council on 01273 481846 or wasteandmineralsdf@eastsussex.gov.uk

PAAL has responded to ESCC with an open letter detailing their concerns about the continued delay in this process. Copy letter as follows:

Ian Blake

Waste and Minerals Planning Policy Team

Transport & Environment

East Sussex County Council

County Hall

St Anne’s Crescent

Lewes

BN7 1UE

7^th January 2011

Dear Sir,

East Sussex County Council Waste & Minerals Core Strategy

Following the publication of the Analysis of Comments on the Preferred Strategy and Factsheet 2, I am writing on behalf of P.A.A.L. to raise a number of points we have with the County Council’s approach and presentation of a number of key issues.

We welcome the new emphasis on alternative disposal methods and are encouraged that the County’s discussions with industry are proving constructive. As we and many others set out in their consultation responses, given the almost complete absence of suitable landfill sites, “every effort” must be made to increase the recovery and reuse to the highest possible levels. It is evident and regrettable that every effort had not been made during the preparation of the Preferred Strategy consultation.

Our principal point of concern is the continued delay to the process and the impact that this extended period of uncertainty has on local communities, particularly those directly affected by the landraise Opportunity Areas, so-called, and the landfill possibility at Ashdown Brickworks. Setting aside the obvious potential financial loss for an individual’s own property, which we accept is not a planning concern, there is real impact on local socio-economic issues (e.g. willingness of businesses and individuals to invest in affected areas) and, in some cases no doubt, a perceived impact on individuals’ health and well-being. These are matters of planning and, one might say, of political concern too.

The County Council’s sanguine approach to the extended timescale is unfortunate. It is appreciated that the Coalition Government is preparing a new national waste policy but in the meantime urges councils to continue to make their plans. The Chief Planner’s letter to local planning authorities, dated 6^th July 2010, regarding the revocation of Regional Strategies, stresses that “Planning Authorities should continue to press ahead with their waste plans, and provide enough land for waste management facilities to support the sustainable management of waste (including the move away from disposal of waste by landfill).” It seems to us that in this sentence the Government’s whole position is summed up neatly. Unfortunately, it is in stark contrast with the County Council’s continuing delay and out of date Preferred Strategy; sitting back and waiting for the Government’s review isn’t acceptable.

To this end we wonder what is happening in respect of the promised detailed environmental and engineering design assessment of the Opportunity Areas and Ashdown Brickworks. We were told that this work would be likely to be commissioned from consultants and would commence during or at the end of the period for assessment of the consultation responses. We understand that no such work has been commissioned from consultants or instructed to in-house staff. This work is capable of being undertaken whilst waiting for the Government’s review and, crucially, its results could be capable of ruling out some or all of the Opportunity Areas, providing relief to those communities at least.

I would also add that we are disappointed with the summary of the responses on the Opportunity Areas. There was no express mention of the weighty criticism of the site selection process and no mention of the absence of landowner consultation. For the Newick/Piltdown there are several specific points which are of importance but have not been included; for example, no references to the remote location from the arisings and the inadequate capacity of the site once adequate buffers have been employed.

P.A.A.L. urges the County to press on urgently with its discussions with industry and to ensure that spatial provision is made in the plan for built disposal facilities. We look forward to being informally consulted, as promised in the Factsheet. It is vital that the County is ready to respond immediately to the Coalition’s strategy as soon as it is available.

Yours faithfully,

Bob White

Chairman P.A.A.L.

Meeting on 27th May - POSTPONED

2010-05-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

We've decided to postpone the next public meeting, which was scheduled for 27th May, as ESCC have not come back to us with any comments yet and it seems pointless to have a meeting until we have something further to discuss. Their response has been delayed because they have been unable to complete a review of all the objections that they have received - due to the number that they have received! We are advised that they anticipate sending out updated information sometime in July. As soon as we know we will schedule the next PAAL meeting - details will be available on the next newsletter and this website.

ESCC are about to publish a leaflet to be sent to residents living within the 'Area of Search' to inform them of the future process (as a direct result of criticism on their communication effectiveness so far). If you don't actually live within these areas you will still need to know so we will ask them if we can post the information on this website as well.

PAAL have been discussing the consultation methods with ESCC and we hope that they will ensure that this is greatly improved in the future.

Any questions please contact us.

Don't Believe The Rumours - We're Not Safe Yet

2010-03-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a rumour going around that the Piltdown site has been discounted by ESCC. This is not true - we are putting up the best fight we can but we cannot afford to be complacent.

Walk Against Land Raise

2010-03-01T06:14:00.001-08:00

PAAL has been asked to publicise the following notice of events:

Walk Against Land Raise
EAST HOATHLY & DISTRICT PRESERVATION SOCIETY
in conjunction with the Residents of East Sussex Against Land raise are
WALKING THE PROPOSED SITES:

On Sunday 7th February - 88 concerned residents walked from Laughton Stores across green fields through Laughton Park Farm to Halland Park Farm. the history of the listed building, archeological finds and information on land raise was displayed, tea and biscuits served and the importance of Greenfield Sites recognised. Perhaps it is preaching to the converted but the fallacy of the ESCC Waste Plan must be kept at the forefront of our minds.

the proposed schedule for walking the other sites is
SUNDAY 7TH MARCH
BROOMHAM FARM / GOLDEN CROSS

SUNDAY 11TH APRIL - NOTE NEW DATE!!!
GRISLING COMMON SOUTH OF THE A272 BETWEEN PILTDOWN & NEWICK
Meeting at 2pm - Venue TBC

SUNDAY 22ND MAY
WICK STREET (WEST OF MIDDLE FARM)

SUNDAY 6TH JUNE
HELLINGLY (BETWEEN HACKHURST LANE & BROAD FARM)

Obviously co-operation and input from local groups is necessary therefore times and details are to be confirmed.

EVERYONE WELCOME

EACH WILL HOPEFULLY include displays of LOCAL history/INTEREST, WILDLIFE SURVEYS & ARCHEOLOGICAL FINDS

All sites have been selected by the same criteria and in the opinion of EHDPS NO site identified is any more, or less, suitable than any other.

ESCC say they have a difficult decision: they want us to mkae it for them.

The decision should be NO new sites for land raise.

If you have any questions regarding these walks please contact:
Chris Pellett 01825 872830
ctpellet@yahoo.co.uk

Support CPRE

2010-03-01T06:14:00.000-08:00

CPRE (Campaign for Protection of Rural England)
This organisation has provided invaluable information for all the proposed sites in East Sussex and has done a lot of good work to inform people. Please show them your support in the invaluable work that they do. There's lot's of detail and information on their website: http://www.cpresussex.org.uk/

PAAL Representation Document

2010-02-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

Extract from PDF document...

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 These representations are made on behalf of Piltdown Action Against Landraise (PAAL), formed on 5th January 2010 by landowners and individuals in the Piltdown and Fletching area. Enplan was asked to prepare representations following proposals contained in the Preferred Strategy of the Brighton & Hove and East Sussex Waste and Minerals Core Strategy Document, which was published in October 2009. PAAL’s main objection to the Preferred Strategy is the introduction of landraise on Greenfield sites as a means of disposing of household waste, as referred to at Policy CS6 of the Preferred Strategy.

Download the Full Report PDF (5.15MB)

PAAL Representation to ESCC

2010-02-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

REPRESENTATIONS ON THE EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL AND BRIGHTON & HOVE COUNCIL WASTE & MINERALS CORE STRATEGY: PREFERRED STRATEGY of PILTDOWN ACTION AGAINST LANDFILL (PAAL)

January 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PAAL accepts that there is a pressing need for waste disposal but strongly objects to Policies C3, C5a and C6 in the Preferred Strategy, specifically the principle of landraise on Greenfield sites in the Low Weald and the use of the Newick/Piltdown ‘Opportunity Area’ identified.

The Preferred Strategy does not meet the requirements of the South East Plan (SEP) in terms of waste recovery targets and has excluded consideration of Brownfield land in AONBs and National Parks ahead of Greenfield sites. This approach is not in accordance with Government planning policy guidance.

The County Council should make every effort to (1) increase the percentage of waste recovery and reuse to the very highest possible levels, well in excess of minimum requirements of the SEP, and (2) to drive the delivery of Brownfield sites for land disposal, in particular Ashdown Brickworks, or alternatives, including those within the AONBs if necessary.

On behalf of PAAL, Enplan (planners, landscape architects and environmental consultants) has studied the Scott Wilson Land Identification Study (October 2009). This report identifies an Opportunity Area at Newick/Piltdown (the OA) but notes that it is a “borderline” site subject to detailed assessment. Enplan advise that this OA should not have been included and that this study is unreliable and flawed as follows:

Land ownership has played no part in the assessment
County Officer’s should not have advised Scott Wilson to exclude AONBs and NPs
Lack of geological evidence in the work
Stage 1 assessment sets a 500m buffer for “valued environments” but Scott Wilson have not applied buffers to the valued environments of Ancient Woodland or Listed Buildings
Sensitivity testing should have been applied to some of the criteria and 1km applied to all settlements
Lack of transparency at Stage 2 assessment as to why certain OAs survived the minimum 25ha test and why others failed
Stage 3 ground based assessment for the 31 OAs was undertaken in two days – about half an hour per site! No expert highway or ecological expertise was used at this stage and the Assistant County Archaeologist only assessed the five “most suitable” OAs
Not a single OA was categorised as Green on their traffic light system. The five were selected from the Amber category which are subject to significant constraints Stage 3 ground based assessment for the 31 OAs

PAAL’s overriding objection to landraising, the Newick/Piltdown Opportunity Area for a potential landraise site should be excluded from the Core Strategy Submission Document as a “suitable location” for the following reasons:

Remote location – the OA is furthest from the main areas of waste arisings and would be the least sustainable site. A272 has a poor accident record and passes through rural settlements.
The wrong geology and high risk of pollution – the OA lies entirely on porous Sandstone, adjacent to the River Ouse a source of drinking water, and represents a high risk site in terms of pollution
Dangerous access - only one deliverable access position on a blind fast bend
Visually intrusive – the OA is already a hill and visually exposed. Landraise would break the skyline in many views
Presence of Ancient Woodland – areas of semi-natural woodland with a range of protected species lie within the OA
Insufficient capacity – when all of the constraints are taken into account and given appropriate buffer areas, the remaining ‘unconstrained’ land falls well below the required minimum area of 25 hectares
Unwilling landowner – landowner agreement is essential to successful delivery. PAAL understands that the principal landowner within the OA is unwilling and has objected to the Preferred Strategy.

The plan below illustrates all of the constraints within or close to the OA with the buffer zones defined by Scott Wilson for the Areas of Search stage of their work.

Update on Progress

2010-01-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

No doubt some of you will have seen the PAAL posters or read or heard about the proposal for a Land Raise site between Piltdown and Newick – but because of the Council’s ineffective consultation process not everyone is aware and even less people realise the serious implications that this will have and the number of people it will affect. This is not just a Piltdown and Newick issue!

Picture kindly drawn for us by Louis Holdcroft

If the site is approved for development the construction will involve the excavation of 65 acres that will be slightly lowered to create a base and provide soil to create a barrier around the perimeter. The base will be lined with a special clay to prevent contaminates from the waste leaching (draining) into the soil and the adjoining river Ouse, but there is not guarantee against contamination and in fact a certain amount of leachate is expected.

Just a mile or so downstream from the site the river Ouse is the only source of local drinking water at Barcombe Reservoir, which supplies homes in, Burgess Hill, Chailey, Crowborough, Fletching, Haywards Heath, Isfield, Newick, Piltdown, Ringmer and Uckfield. In effect the site will play Russian roulette with the health of everyone living in that area.

It is estimated that the site will be in use for 10 years, by which time it will cover the size of 35 international football pitches and could be up to 80 feet in height. A SERIOUS HEALTH RISK AND AN ENVIRONMENTAL EYESORE. The daily vehicle movements will pass along the A272 and A275 and will undoubtedly pass through Haywards Heath as well. They will use 80 tonne (6 axle) lorries and, although the Councils consultants are unable to give us even an approximate number, we estimate that to be 72 vehicle movements, passing every 3 ½ minutes between 7am and 1pm. This does not include the additional vehicles to remove the contaminants that are collected from drainage tanks and the on-site vehicles.

The residents of Piltdown formed PAAL (Piltdown Action Against Land raise) as soon as they became aware of the potential site in order to raise local awareness and encourage objections to try and get the site eliminated from the plan.

In January we called on every home in Newick to talk to people about the plan and to ask them to sign an objection letter. 746 Of these letters of objection were delivered to ESCC and with others sent direct we believe we were responsible for nearly 1,000 of the 1,800 letters received in respect of all 5 proposed sites. We have tried to get as much media coverage as possible and have submitted a formal Objection Report that gives very detailed reasons and supporting evidence as to why this site is totally unsuitable – this information is available to view at our website www.piltdownaction.com.

Even though this period of consultation has now closed we cannot be complacent. We need to include people from other villages in our group to work together to ensure that this does not happen. We are not professionals at this and would appreciate any help or expertise that you can offer.

What can you do?

If you want to work with our group and have any specific skills that you can offer to the organisation please let us know via our website www.piltdownaction.com. Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you. Please do the same if you just want to be added to our email database. We’ll keep the website up to date with information so check it regularly.
If you would like to obtain a full copy of the PAAL Objection Report please email Bob White . We have to ask for a donation for this comprehensive document to cover production costs and to add to the fighting fund.

Keep watching PiltdownAction.com and SaveNewick.com for up to date information.
Become a fan on Facebook at Save Newick
Sign the Number 10 Petition at

Piltdown Action Against Landraise

2010-01-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

East Sussex County Council (ESCC) have published a new Waste & Minerals Core Strategy – Preferred Options outlining the ‘Preferred Area of Search’ for the disposal of waste by means of landfill or land raising at five sites within the county. Out of these five sites they claim that two will be required to provide the capacity that they say is needed. One location that has been identified as an area of search is south of the A272, east of Goldbridge – between Piltdown and Newick.

Even if you don’t live near to the site you will be affected by it as the increase in traffic movements on the A272 by 80 tonne lorries will result in one lorry every 3 1/2 minutes! And the risk of contamination to the drinking water supply will affect a far larger area as water is drawn downstream from the River Ouse to supply domestic water to Barcombe Mills and Ardingly reservoir.

Further information can be found on the ESCC website (http://consult.eastsussex.gov.uk) together with the 2 publications mentioned above, which can be downloaded as pdf files comprising 136 pages and 30 pages respectively. Although not all refers to Land Raise it takes a lot of sorting through to uncover the relevant details so to help you we have provided below a brief summary for your information.

This website has been created by the Piltdown Action Against Landfill / Land Raise Group in response to this proposal as many people have not been informed by the local authority and are completely unaware of this possible development and those that are, are not necessarily aware of its precise location, the extent and type of development or the likely impact on the community.

If the site is approved for development the construction will involve the excavation of a 25 hectare site (62 acres – 250,000 sq ft) which will be excavated to lower the base and provide soil to create a barrier/wall around the site. The base will be lined with a special clay to prevent contaminates from the waste leaching (draining) into the soil and adjoining river (but cannot be guaranteed). Once built there will be 38 large lorry deliveries a day amounting to 76 vehicle movements (on an average 4 1/2 hour working day that starts at 7am that is 1 every 3 1/2 minutes coming or going) and we don’t know if this is limited to weekdays only. It is estimated that the site will be in use for 10 years, by which time it will cover the size of 35 international football pitches and could be up to 25 metres in height. AN ENVIRONMENTAL EYESORE.

What you can do to help!
The initial consultation period has now closed as the council consider the responses. However you can still write to your local County Councillor as well – they need to know your thoughts to help them decide how to vote on the proposal.

Piltdown residents write to:

Councillor Tony Reid, Millbrook Farm, Nutley, Uckfield TN22 3PJ

Newick residents write to:

Meg Stroude, Cowlease Farm, Hamsey, Lewes BN8 5TE

PLEASE EMAIL A LINK TO THIS WEBPAGE TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO MAY SUPPORT THE OBJECTIONS! You don’t have to live in the area to object – ask relatives and visitors to the area to join us in objecting.

Become a friend of Save Newick on Facebook

PAAL has presented a technical Objection Report to ESCC detailing our objections in full with supporting evidence. If you would like to obtain a copy of the PAAL Objection Report please email Bob White . We have to ask for a donation for this comprehensive document to cover production costs and to add to the fighting fund.

In summary they have listed their objections to a Land Raise site at this location as follows:

* Geology – The site is situated on sandstone, which is not ideally suited to the development of land raise and has high risk of contamination of the river Ouse. This river provides the drinking water supply for Barcombe reservoir and is often used to supply Ardingly reservoir as well.
* Location – This site is furthest site from the main source of the waste and the transportation of it will increase to Co2 emissions from the process.The A272 & A275 pass through a number of sensitive settlements and the roads are much narrower than the A22.
* Access Point – only one access point which is on the brow of hill on slight bend and would result in a roundabout being sited on a gradient on what is already noted as a ‘medium risk route’ through the County.
* Landscape – The Land Raise site is on a hill, which will result in it being highly visible and will have a significant visual impact on the area, for all residents.
* Ecology – It is near to small areas of ancient woodland – Hanging Wood and Sharps Wood.
* Suitability – If the right buffer areas were applied to ancient woodland, listed buildings etc the site would probably not be large enough
* We therefore believe it doesn’t qualify as a site that is valid for consideration in this strategy.

We should hopefully hear by the autumn if this location is one of those chosen or not and we will keep you informed of progress on this site.