MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING OF STERT PARISH COUNCIL
held in Grist Environmental’s offices, Nursteed Road, Devizes on 7th June 2017
Present:
Clive Boyes (CB), Chairman
Alick Edwards (AE), Dty Chairman
Chris Lawrence (CL), Councillor
Lucy Barker (LB) Councillor/Treasurer
William Howkins (WH), Councillor/Clerk
Nigel Grist (NG), Owner, Grist Environmental
Jonathan Taylor (JT), Grist Environmental
1. Apologies for absence
Sam Deacon sent her apologies.
2. Planning Application for new building
CB had asked for the meeting with Grist Environmental so that the PC could be briefed on the revised plans for the new sorting shed and bund wall. The PC had raised their concerns to WC’s planning officer that the new sorting shed had been extended beyond the limits shown on the approved plans and the existing bund was being moved some 30 metres into the field to the east of the site. WC had instructed Grist Environmental to submit revised plans for the works to seek retroactive planning approval. The application would be handled by WC’s building planning department.
CB opened the meeting by thanking NG and JT for seeing the PC and stressed that the PC was there to seek clarification on the revised plans and assurance that they would meet the concerns about the visual and environmental impact of the new building and bund construction which had been raised in the previous planning application.
3. Revised Drawings.
JT presented a new set of drawings which he said had been submitted 2 weeks ago electronically through the National Planning Portal. These would then be forwarded to WC and published in due course on its planning website. The new layout showed the lean-to extension of the new sorting shed which had already been constructed and the location of the new bund, with its crest centreline 40 m east of the back of the lean-to extension. This would allow a 20 m clear fire break behind the shed, a recommendation of best practice made by the Environmental Agency.
The new bund would extend the entire length of the eastern boundary of the site and extend around the southern boundary. The height of the bund is shown as 9.6 m high (the ridge height of the new shed being 11.5 m). The bund would be planted with woodland trees with shrub underplanting. NG confirmed that the new bund would be constructed this summer when weather conditions permitted. It would be done using their own equipment and personnel. The bund would be compacted in small lifts using inert material from the site.
JT explained that the lean-to shed extension would have a concrete floor and rear wall extending part way to the eve of the shed to retain the material being handled but allowing adequate ventilation within the shed.
The new plans also included an extension to the existing green baling shed to the west of the site adjacent to the present open waste mound so that they could increase the efficiency of their disposal of material being shipped to power stations and reduce the size of the mound. JT said there was no restriction on the permitted height of the mound.
NG stressed that the revised plans did not increase the operational area for which he had a licence since the original eastern bund had been within the operational area of the site and the 20 m fire break would be kept clear.
JT handed over a set of the revised drawings to the PC.
4. Environmental considerations.
CB mentioned that he had received a number of complaints about the mud on the road. NG said they were doing their best to keep the road clean and still planned to concrete the internal access roads when the second weigh bridge was installed. He promised that this would be done sometime this year.
JT explained that Grist Environmental plan to recycle all the material handle through the site. They had a licence to handle 150,000 tons per year, but currently only handling 50,000 tons. He said that increasing the throughput would not necessarily increase the number of truck movements as by bailing the material the tongue per truck could be increased substantially.
JT confirmed that they had an Environmental Management System, an EA licence and an assigned EA officer but didn’t have his name to hand. He said that all surface water from open waste areas was collected and exported by tanker to a disposal facility.
5. Conclusion.
CB thanked NG and JT on behalf of the PC for their time and said the PC would give careful consideration to their plans. He said we should maintain a direct dialogue on any future planning issues.
Stert Parish 