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Tuesday 1 January 2008

Folkestone Herald - 07.08.08


Otterpool Quarry Water Report - the Facts

Folkestone Herald - 31.07.08


Kentish Express 31.07.08


Map

test sellindge invasion bits wih landmarks added in blue bubble type effects...







then can use all google maps featurs showing greenery etc.






http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108760979937378137129.000451a5107967aa6ee4b&ll=51.096192,0.99349&spn=0.035306,0.059395&z=14


Folkestone Herald - 3rd July 2008


Kentish Express 26th June 2008




Herald -, 8th May 2008 - photos and stories






Kentish Express 8th May 2008










Contact Details of those Acting for Us

The Sellindge & District Resident Association members are:

Les Barratt - Water - Chairman
Bob Edden - Policy - Chairman
Ronald Lello
Margaret Ludlow
Diana Ponting - Treasurer
Ian Medgett - Ecology & Environment
Penny Knight - Researcher
Pat Vago
Mandy Tragner

This website has been formed for easier communication and sharing of information with everyone. If you have information you wish to share please email sellindgeresidents@gmail.com

Our Local Councillor contacts are:

Jenny Hollingsbee
District Councillor
Snow Drop
Swan Lane
Sellindge, TN25 6EB
jennyhollingsbee@fsmail.net

Susan Carey
County Councillor
North House
116A North Road
Hythe CT21 5DY
susancarey@rdwd.co.uk
susan.carey@kent.gov.uk

Contacts at Council

Sellindge & District Residents' Association

Please use the following as a guide:
1) send any questions/issues you would like raising with KCC to sellindgeresidents@gmail.com
2) send any copies of emails you have sent to the contacts listed below, with their response to dave@davemotley.co.uk
3) send any material you would like putting on our website to dave@davemotley.co.uk
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KCC's - address, key members, their contact details and areas of responsibilities: 

Postal Address: Kent County Council, Invicta House, County Hall,    ME14 1XX

Cllr Paul Carter
Leader of the Council
Tel: 01622 694310

Sharon Thompson
Head of Planning Applications Group
01622 696052
sharon.thompson@kent.gov.uk

Angela Watts
Senior Case Officer
angela watts@kent.gov.uk

Bryan Sweetland
Environment, Highways and Waste
bryan.sweetland@kent.gov.uk

Richard King
Chairman - Planning Committee
Richard.King@kent.gov.uk

Susan Carey
Shepway Councillor 
01303 238423
Susan.Carey@kent.gov.uk 
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Prime Minister
The Rt Hon. David Cameron MP
10 Downing Street
London   SW1A 2AA
(Not contactable by  Email)
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Damian Collins
MP for Folkestone and Hythe
Folkestone and Hythe Conservative Association
4 West Cliff Gardens
Folkestone    CT20 1SP
01303 253524
damian.collins.mp@parliament.uk 

Damian Green
MP for Ashford
House of Commons
London     SWA 0AA
020 7219 3518
greend@parliament.uk
or
Hardy House
The Street
Bethersden
Ashford    TN26 3AG

Jenny Hollingsbee
Councillor, Shepway District Council
Snowdrop
Swan Lane
Sellindge Ashford  TN25 6EB
01303 812066
jenny.hollingsbee@shepway.gov.uk

Kent Police Authority - Operation Stack - Options for the Future

thius may be worth a read ...

see link at the top of the recent updates section on right

WORK IN PROGRESS ON THIS PAGE........

More Photos of the march on 3rd May 2008






Photos of the march on 3rd May 2008




















Sellindge and District Residents Assoociation - Address to the Meeting on June 24th 2008

The following article was published in the August 2008 Sellindge Village News on the Meeting held on the 24th June.......
_______________________________________________________________

The meeting at the Village Hall was packed tight. Many people just were not able to get in alongside the 240 that managed it. The voice of the village was unanimous - Countrystyle you can take you pollution and your heavy goods traffic and your poisoning of our water and air and your noise and take them to some solitary island far away. No one gave Countrystyle a moment of encouragement. Their presentation of their case was pitiful and if they operate as well as they spoke to this village we can really worry about their competence to do anything.

This movement to oppose has begun to reveal an idea held by some powerful interests to industrialise this beautiful part of Kent from Ashford to Dover. The details are hard to substantiate but there is enough to justify the following speech I made at the meeting. It is reproduced for those who were not able to hear it.


"With your permission, Mr Chairman, I would like to start by thanking you and the representatives of Kent County Council Planning Department for organising and attending this meeting, and for giving us the opportunity to express our views. I would also like to thank the committee and supports of Sellindge and District Residents Association (SANDRA) for their untiring work in organising the protest march in May which attracted over 600 people - a high proportion of Sellindge residents - all keen to express their anger at and implacable opposition to Countrystyle Recycling's proposals for the Quarry site.

The third thank-you goes from all the people of Sellindge to their committee members for producing the document that has been distributed this evening. This document summarises the points so far identified which we are asking our visitors from KCC Planning Department to consider and act upon. I should stress that this is a preparatory document - more detailed review is in preparation. However, there is plenty in the document you now have which deserves immediate attention. My colleagues will establish some points this evening, I want to raise a disturbing issue which has arisen as I have pursued various lines of research. Mr Chairman, it is a ling time since I had dealings with local authorities in a profession capacity. Back in the 70s I was very aware that such dealings often took place in a sort of miasma of mistrust and suspicion. Rumours and accusations of bribery and corruption were commonplace, and in some cases such accusations were sustained. This climate of mistrust arose, as I recall, from a kind of darkness - an absence of light and clarity, and a sense that things were being decided by powerful people fumbling undercovers towards undeclared objectives. This culture was changed by throwing back the blankets covering bureaucratic furtiveness and exposing the fumbling to the light of day. But I have to say that today there are signs of its return, and as I begin to approach agencies of local government I am again aware of a culture of darkness.

Let me make it clear that my dealings with Senior Planning Officer Angela Watts have been entirely harmonious and open. I am speaking more about the Local Authority world which lies behind the Planning interface with the public. For example, it is proving impossible to discover what is being planned, long-term, for the people of Sellindge and the other villages in the area. Why are we not informed of such plans and considerations? Why cannot long term proposals be discussed with those most affected by them - in this instance - us! Why is it that we are the last to know of plans and proposals capable of affecting our village and our quality of life in truly devastating ways? Why is it for example, that Countrystyle has had three years to prepare its proposals, three years to consult with the Boroughs and Districts, with the industries, the businesses and the commercial enterprises of Kent? Three years of access to KCC officials, by skilled people employed full-time to prepare proposals on Countrystyle's behalf.

By sharp contrast, the team at SANDRA all work full time in other employment, have busy lives and families to look after, and have had merely a few months to prepare a fully professional response (at their own expense) to the proposals submitted by Countrystyle. Most crippling of all, they have been allowed none of the easy access to County Hall and other interested parties which Countrystyle has enjoyed for so long.

It is my earnest entreaty today, Mr Chairman, in the name of equity and just government, that you urge those officials, politicians, planners and interested parties who have influence on such proposals as these - proposals which can have truly devastating effects upon vulnerable communities - to open their thinking and their plans to those most affected.

It is the absence of such openness that gives rise to that culture of darkness, real or perceived, which I mentioned just now. The culture in which rumours, suspicions and accusations flourish - as they are now flourishing, I am sorry to say, around the proposals before us today".

During the holiday months of July and August our activities may seem to quieten, but I can assure you that many in this village are continuing to work throughout the summer to ensure our case against the development of a waste treatment plant on the quarry and above the second most important source of Kent's drinking water will be defeated. I shall be bringing you all up to date in September when we shall begin to turn the spotlight on Shepway. Thank you for your attention and support.

Ronald Lello Chairman Sellindge and District Residents Association (SANDRA)


Composting Facility, Church Lane

The Thin End of the Wedge (Gets Thicker) Part 2

Dear Neighbour - 3rd September 08


Those of you who received my first letter “The Thin End of the Wedge” will know what this is all about, those who have not will once I mention the horrendous smell which has been emitted from a composting site in Church Lane you no doubt now understand.

The recent composting activities by Wanstall & Sons in Church Lane have driven away the Swans and Grebes both protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 that had occupied the pond adjacent to the site for the last 3 years.

They have had their licence to compost under an exception to Regulation 12 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations revoked. The Environment Agency can tell you the full facts but basically they were not doing things correctly.

Church Lane now floods during every decent rainstorm, this is due to the concrete roadway and concrete pad damaging the field’s French drains which were design to take the water around the back of the hill to the balancing pond created especially for this purpose. The flooding has also been exasperated by the bunds (mounds) built supposedly to contain leachates from the compost.

I did warn you that this operation would smell and boy what an acrid and odious smell it has been and to whom dependant on wind direction and speed. The smell managed to travel a good couple of kilometres from the site so they where they were generous with it we all had some, unfortunately it made some of us those closest to the feel quite ill.

Wanstall & son have withdrawn their Planning Application for the Roadway and Pad with Ashford Borough Council. Is this then the end of this disgusting mess? Well unfortunately it is not, as I say in the title earlier the wedge is being driven deeper.

Wanstall & Sons have on the 21st August 2008 submitted to KCC for retrospective planning permission for a composting facility at this site. This time they intend to compost 25,000 tons of material a year consisting of 10,000 tons of Wood Chips, 10,000 tons of Sewage Cake and 5000 tons of Farm and green wastes. Of the farm wastes 1,500 tons of this will be your favourite odour “a la chicken manure” plus whatever happens to fall into this mixture if you take my meaning.

Let’s look at what a 25,000 ton composting facility looks like according to a Government Paper called “Windrow Composting” I have acquired this paper from the internet:

Fig 1 A 25.000 tons per year site in action - unfortunately not included at present.

Yes folks it is massive it will cover an area of between 2–3 ha that’s approximately in old money 5 to 7.5 acres (remember these are government facts not mine) therefore this site will need to cover the whole of the field in Church Lane. The paper also states that it would require a Site Manager, Assistant Manger and 3 site operatives. Wanstall & Sons application states they only require one man to run such an operation, well. Could one Wanstall & Son or sub-contractor really be trusted to manage a large site like the above on his own?

Within the planning application there are many inaccuracies and anomalies for example it states that the site will only be 0.19 ha in size as we can see above this not correct. Another example of miscalculation is with the ratios of composting material i.e. it states 10,000 tons of wood chips are to be mixed with 10,000 of Sewage Cake (50:50) what it does not mention is what is the 5,000 tons of chicken manure/farm waste to be mixed with this? Has this been omitted or not just included? In fact there are so many holes in this application it could be used as a fishing net!

The report is not remarkable for what it says but what it does not say. For example you and I do not exist and we are not taken into account at anytime in the Bioaerosols or Odour Assessments, we just do not exist as far as this report is concerned. The fact that Ashford and Shepway Borough Councils Environmental Health Departments were swamped with complaints about the nuisance smells being emitted from this site has been totally ignored. The new application will mean that there will be daily deliveries of 4 HGVs a day included in this will be between 32 to 48 tons of sewage cake, also the rows (see above) known as Windrows (no it is not a spelling mistake) require to be turned over every 2 or 3 days these are both odour emitting processes and the horrendous smell will be constant who gets it is a lottery, it all depends on which way the wind is blowing. As far as the digester planned in Sellindge is concerned prevailing winds are south westerly sadly this will mean that the whole of Sellindge will cop it on regular occasions.

What else is not mention is just the little fact that there will be more than 3,400 extra tractor movements to and from the site a year pulling 15 ton trailers a long the country lanes collecting and distributing the compost to the various sites a round the area, such sites as Honeywell Farm on Romney Marsh and further. These tractors do not take the main roads they constantly use Church Lane and other small lanes. These lanes can expect at least 14 loads each day travelling to this site (there and back). This has been the case with the recent workings. These heavily loaded tractors are as wide as the lanes and to pass other vehicle have to mount the verges and in this process damaging them. There is a serious risk to life and limb as these tractors rush around the area passing schools and residential places.

Something else has not been mentioned but may effect people living farther away is that once the wood chippings, sewage cake etc have been in the windrows for 1 to 2 months the compost requires curing for a further 2 months. There will not be enough room on this site to accommodate this, therefore the compost will have to be moved to whatever field or near by site to the place where it is to be finally used (unless it is to be transported again!). This stacked material is still able to emit enough odour and will be a nuisance to nearby properties if not place sympathetically. By the way once spread on the land it is supposed to be ploughed in within 24 hrs, 4 days we had to wait for this to happen in Church Lane during which it reeked across our properties and made our lives very uncomfortable. Good neighbourly act or not!

Finally research has taken place in Giessen Germany and presented recently to the House of Commons by an MP that fungal spores are reaching far greater distances from composting sites than the Environmental Agencies safety zone recommendations. These spores have a potential for chronic ill health the report quotes “mucus membrane infections are particularly elevated, shortness of breath is shown to be an effect of spore inhalation and excessive tiredness is distinctly linked to site emissions”. Do you trust Wanstall & Sons and their one man to prevent these spores reaching you?

There is something you can do before it is to late and YOU ONLY HAVE ONE WEEK LEFT TO DO IT IN is to e-mail or write to the KCC Planning Officer and make your voice heard, it appears that this application will go to committee and it is here that your letters will truly count.The E-mail address is: planning.applications@kent.gov.uk

The snail mail Address is:

Mr S Whyman
Planning Application
GroupFirst Floor,
Invicta House
County Hall
Maidstone
Kent
ME14 1XX

State that you wish to object to Planning Application AS/08/TEMP/0041 by the applicant J Wanstall & Sons against the Retrospective planning permission for a composting facility in Church Lane Aldington TN25 6AF

Please feel free to use any of the reason I have used above or your own, but you only have until the 18th of September 2008 to do this by. Do not delay do it today!

A copy of the application is available at Ashford Borough Council offices for your perusal (it is 118 pages long!), the basic details are on ABCs Web site under application 08/01373/AS

This letter was produced by Brian Ellis to you personally, I will be raising an objection myself, if you are willing to help please contact me on 07798 781667. In the meantime it would be a great help if once you have raised an objection to pass this letter on to a friend who may not have received a copy as I am rapidly running out of paper!

Regards
Brian Ellis

Compost Facility Random Photos in August 08

















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