Precision Disc Castings Limited

AGENDA ITEM 8

PRECISION DISC CASTINGS LIMITED

Present:

Poole Councillors: Mr B Clements, Mr G. Wilson, Ms L Wilson and Mr T. Trent.

Borough of Poole Environmental & Consumer Protection: Mr J. Morley And Ms S. Lee

Residents:

Miss W. Herring, Mr M Harris, Mr Gosling, Mrs P. Traylor, Mr J Baker, Mr D Hill-Jones, Mr Jarvis and Mr Connelly

PDC: Ms H. Krosnar, Mr G. Starr, and Mr S. Lindfield.

1)Ms H Krosnar welcomed the councillors and residents to a brief discussion of the agenda (Ref: SDL201006) took place and it was agreed that Brian Clements would chair the meeting.

2)Ms S. Lee commented on PDC performance since the last residents meeting reporting that BOP had received 15 complaints since the meeting held on the 10th October 2005, comparing this to the 39 received between the meeting in 2004 and 2005.

It was at this point that residents informed the meeting that they had stopped complaining because they felt that no actions were never taken. Both PDC and the BOP and assured the residents and councillors that when complaints were lodged PDC investigated all complaints and reported finds to the BOP to ensure they were satisfied with the action taken. Ms H Krosnar asked the residents to continue to complain, as this was the only way that PDC could continue to improve and prevent any nuisances that are created. Both Mr Morley and Mr Clements backed up this statement encouraging the residents to continue complaining.

Ms S Lee also reported to the meeting that PDC had been subject to two inspections during the year the first was a interim spot inspection on the 21st Feb 06 and the second was the full annual inspection, which was conducted on the 25th July 06. During these inspections the Officers checked the site and documentation to ensure compliance with the permit that PDC must comply with. Ms S Lee also provided the residents and councillors with copies of the permit so they could view what conditions PDC had to comply with.

3)Mr S Lindfield detailed to the meeting that he had received 15 complaints since the previous meeting on the 10th Oct 05. Since the start of 2006 PDC have received 10 complaints 6 of which were classed as upheld, whilst the other 4 were not. Mr S Lindfield also provided a graph showing the success that PDC have achieved with the number of complaints drastically dropping since the 62 recorded in 2002.

Mr S Lindfield also discussed that PDC continued to comply with the conditions laid down within the permit to operate and provided details of some of the requirements: Including daily audits of the yard condition, continuous monitoring on stack emissions and annual emissions, which results of the 2006 monitoring were provided.

Finally Mr S Lindfield provided a brief insight into the company’s accreditation to IS0 14001:2004 and what requirements it placed on PDC including: Compliance with legislation, employee awareness, identifying significant risks etc.

4)Mr G Starr then informed the meeting of the improvements that PDC had made towards the environment during the last year. Although there was only one real improvement being made that would affect the residents this would be significant. This improvement was the installation of a sand pre-conditioner system, which would prevent hot dusty sand being returned to the system and mean that moist sand would be returned instead. Therefore reducing the amount of fugitive emissions that could escape from the foundry.

This was seen to be a major improvement and everyone was agreed that when the pre-conditioner was up and running fully that a site tour should be conducted to show the councillors the improvements that had been made.

Mr G Starr also informed the meeting that PDC were hoping to be able to return all sand currently dumped in the yard into the pre-conditioner, which would allow it to be removed by Tarmac. This would once again improve the external yard condition and fugitive dusts.

Ms H Krosnar informed the meeting that the current economic climate was not in favour of manufacturing in the UK due to increasing energy costs, waste disposal costs as well as increased competition from Eastern Europe and China. It is therefore very pleasing that PDC continue to produce quality products and can invest in improving the environment internally and externally.

5)Miss Herring had sent a letter to the BOP dated 11th Oct 2006 highlighting several concerns, these were discussed during the meeting with the following actions coming from the discussion: -

The noise generated from steel deliveries / movement from yard to furnace stock - It was decided that Mr S Lindfield and Ms S Lee should view this to try and establish a solution.

Black dust on window seals - Mr Harris and Miss Herring provided a sample of material taken from their window seals. It was agreed that this would be viewed under a microscope at PDC and compared against materials that are generated at PDC.

Metal rattling in the dross chutes at the rear of the Disa Bay - Mr G Starr informed the meeting that this would only occurring if there was a failure with the Didion drum or Mag belts and therefore should only be for a very short period of time.

Odour being given off at varying intervals - Mr G Starr and Mr S Lindfield informed the meeting that PDC were now using more environmentally friendly resins that generated much less odour and believed that currently there was no issue with odour from the site. The meeting was also informed that PDC had lodged several complaints with another local company for odour reasons.

Miss Herring requested a plan of the site so she could identify where noises where coming from. It was agreed that Mr S Lindfield would provide the BOP with a basic site plan, which could be passed onto the local residents.

6)A discussion on any further concerns took place with the following problems being raised: -

Mr Gosling said that a lorry had left site on the 01/11/06 un-sheeted, Mr G Starr informed the meeting that if they reported this directly to PDC payment would be stopped to prevent it re-occurring.

Mr Gosling introduced Mrs P Traylor to the meeting who suffered from a high pitch whining sound in Manor Avenue. Mrs Traylor was provided with Mr S Lindfield’s Business Card and told to contact him during the week so a site visit could be made to try and identify the noise.

Mr Morley said that diary sheets would be issued to all residents so that they could note down the days that the nuisance noise/odour is present to see if anything can be identified.

Councillor G Wilson asked if it was possible to measure fugitive dust emissions as he believed that this maybe the source of the dust complaints. Mr Morley believed this would be very difficult to achieve and the only real possible way was for PDC to provide data on the level of exposure to staff. PDC agreed to show comparative data at the next meeting with regards to personnel exposure in 2006 (pre pre-conditioner) - 2007 (post pre-conditioner).

7)Section 7 had already been discussed during previous items.

8)To conclude Ms H Krosnar thanked everyone for attending and reminded the residents if they did not complain then PDC could not help try to resolve the problems that affect them.

Councillor B Clements thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for PDC to continue to host the meetings. He was once again very happy to the continual improvement being made by PDC and the effort to try and continue this into the future and he hoped that the relationship would also continue between PDC and the local community. The meeting finished at 21.35hrs.

NB:Councillor L Wilson has since contacted Mr G Starr to request the number of employees that lived in the wards, which she was responsible for.

Shaun Lindfield

Safety and Environmental Engineer22nd November 2006