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Wanstall & son have withdrawn their Planning Application for the Roadway and Pad with Ashford Borough Council.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