OTTERPOOL QUARRY UPDATE
To briefly recap; Planning permission was granted to ‘Countrystyle’ on the 28th March 2011 to develop the quarry site opposite the Airport café by KCC. Various conditions were attached to the consent, not only by statutory consultee’s but also by the Sellindge & District Residents Association.
As the consent only lasts for three years, Countrystyle has only recently been trying to discharge some of those conditions in order to commence building work at the site. From what we have seen from Countrystyle’s documentation, detail and clarity have been woefully lacking.
Our Association has been invited by KCC to comment on the information received of which we are in the process of doing.
The drainage issues surrounding this application have always been ambiguous to say the least with scant regard for our environment.
As we all know, the area is not served by any form of sewer/foul drainage system.
The original scheme to discharge site water ‘run-off’ was to discharge into the nearby highway drainage, exiting in the garden at Barrow Hill Farm cottages. Needless to say, consultee’s took a dim view of this scheme and asked Countrystyle to reconsider the scheme.
In a letter dated 3rd February, 2014 from farmer, Richard Price to Mr. T. Heathcote, owner of Countrystyle, an agreement has been entered into to drain the surface water from the waste/digester site through a drainage pipe installed over Mr. Price’s land, unimpeded to the river Stour. This letter can be viewed on the KCC website.
Our Associaton’s view of this scheme is one of dismay to say the least. There are many other technical issues over the site drainage scheme which has been totally ignored. We will be responding accordingly.
Site contamination is another very serious issue that we are now tackling. Thanks to various local people, we discovered that the site was unofficially used as a dumping ground; not just for rubble but from what we can gather, for everything one could imagine, even a car.
A localised site investigation has been carried out by agents of Countrystyle, but have failed to assess major areas of the site, including the ‘dump’ where we believe contamination to be a very serious problem. Once again, our Association team is following up to consultee’s with our own observations and comments.
A meeting/hearing has been scheduled for the 12th March at County Hall, Maidstone for the full committee to debate the situation concerning the conditions. This hearing has been called for by KCC. For those of us that travelled to Maidstone three years ago, this hearing is along similar lines where the public are allowed to listen to the debate. Interest bodies will be allowed 3 minutes to give their own presentations including ourselves. The officer’s report and agenda won’t be made available until five days before the hearing. For those of you wishing to attend, please keep in touch for further details. It would be helpful if you emailed us on sellindgeresidents @gmail.com to register your interest. Either way, details will be given on our website.
