CORY WINGMOOR FARM WEST LIAISON COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting held on Wednesday 21st October 2015
at Wingmoor, Site Office
MINUTES
PRESENT
Cllr. Andrew Troughton (Chair) Stoke Orchard Parish Council (SOPC)
Cllr. Paul Holliday Bishops Cleeve Parish Council (BCPC)
Cllr. Mike Griffiths Uckington Parish Council
Cllr. Pete Davis Uckington Parish Council (Chair)
Mr Nick Green Environment Agency (EA)
Mr Roger Smith Joint Waste Team – GCC
Mr Marcus Sparrow Planning – GCC
Ms Jan Miller Kier
Mr Mark Silvester Area Manager – Cory
Mr Matt Ward Site Manager – Cory
Mr Ben Stansfield Head of Planning & Estates – Cory
Apologies for absence
Mr David Roscoe (Clerk) Elmstone Hardwicke Parish Council
Mr Shaun Cullimore (Clerk) Swindon Parish Council
Mr Paul Nurden Southam Parish Council
Ms Anna Hollaway Southam Parish Council
Site Visit:
Mr Holliday, Mr Smith, Mr Green, Mr Davis and Mr Griffiths were taken on a tour of the site prior to the meeting.
1.0 Welcome from Chair
Mr Troughton welcomed all those present and everybody introduced themselves to one another.
2.0 Apologies for Absence / Introductions
Apologies were received from the parties identified above.
3.0 Minutes of Previous Meeting
Previous meeting minutes were agreed as an accurate record.
4.0 Matters Arising from Previous Minutes / Site Tour
Actions from Last Meeting:
a) Mr Holliday confirmed that he had met with Mr Ward and was pleased that Cory was working positively with BCPC both on advising on how to dispose of waste materials on the sports field and in offering not to charge BCPC any tipping costs on the basis the material is checked and confirmed to be inert material.
b) Following his earlier email to the committee Mr Stansfield re-confirmed that Printwaste are invited to the Forum meetings but have not previously been invited to the Cory Liaison meetings. Following a request from Mr Griffiths, the committee agreed that Printwaste will be invited to the next liaison meeting.
ACTION Mr Stansfield to invite Printwaste to attend the next meeting in January 2016 when the agenda and invitations are sent out in early January 2016
Site Tour:
Mr Holliday was impressed with the engineering of the next landfill cell and requested that photos of the cell preparation (of Cell 10) are circulated to all committee members to help illustrate and provide an insight to the public as to the level of engineering and control that goes into the landfill.
ACTION Mr Stansfield to include photographs of Cell 10 preparation when circulating the minutes of this meeting
Mr Griffiths noted the presence of two gulls in the locality. Mr Smith was pleased to note the good condition of the haul road within the site, which will benefit the turnaround times of the refuse collection vehicles that serve the County.
5.0 Cory Report on Site Activities
Mr Ward explained to the committee, including reference to a recent aerial photo of the site, that tipping was continuing in the active landfill cell (Cell 9) [see attached plan]. The engineering of the next landfill cell (Cell 10) has been completed and approved by the EA and as such is now ready for the acceptance of waste. It is likely that use will be made of Cell 10 prior to the completion of Cell 9 and this cell will be made available during the winter months, which will help manage the waste at low levels within the site and keep it protected from the wind. Some clay extraction works will be undertaken next year in preparation for the next landfill cell, although the engineering of this cell may not take place next year.
Mr Ward explained that green waste compost levels are normal for the time of the year and are expected, in line with previous years, to start reducing as we enter the winter months. The operations and controls relating to the production of 20mm compost material at the site have been approved to PAS100 standards. Some 20mm PAS100 material has been supplied to local farmers and the 40mm material is being used for restoration on-site.
The levels of landfill gas collected within the site are currently stable. Some routine maintenance works have been undertaken recently on the gas engines to keep them working efficiently.
Mr Ward identified that the site had received 20 complaints in the 3 month period since the last meeting. The majority had related to odour. At least half of the complaints were not received on the day of the reported occurrence. Regardless, all such complaints were investigated by site staff on top of the daily site assessments undertaken by the staff. No clear pattern could be discerned. On occasion on visiting the complainants locations, sometimes very quickly after the event, no odours could be detected on investigation. It was again requested that any concerns or questions relating to the site are raised direct with the site as soon as possible to facilitate quick responses.
Mr Ward stated that bird control measures, including use of a falconer, continues five times a week. The falconer is also being kept on site after the site stops receiving waste.
6.0 Kier Report on HRC Site Activities
Ms Miller stated that Kier had experienced a drop in waste volumes this year and with the onset of winter it was expected that waste volumes at the HRC would begin to reduce. Ms Miller confirmed that the lights at the site had been checked, prior to the clock change this weekend.
Ms Miller stated that Kier along with GCC were still looking into mobile compaction to increase the payloads they achieve, however, no decision has as yet been made.
7.0 Regulatory Authority Update
Gloucestershire County Council
Mr Sparrow confirmed that there were no current planning applications relating to the site or locality in progress.
Mr Smith mentioned that bin stickers had been applied to residual household bins to help promote the weekly food waste collections. Mr Smith also mentioned that the Andigestion plant was currently in commissioning and beginning to take some of the County’s food waste.
Environment Agency
Mr Green confirmed that the EA had spent a lot of time investigating complaints, mainly relating to odour, made in the locality. Some complaints related to the Cory site, whilst others were directed to other sites / activities in the locality. The investigations had involved attending locations following complaints as well as driving around the locality. The investigations had identified on occasion odours which included chicken manure, compost and land spreading type odours. However, equally no noticeable odours could be identified on a number of occasions.
Mr Green explained that he had attended locations very soon after receiving some complaints rating the odour as being a 6 out of 6 type smell yet on arrival no odour was present. Mr Green explained that although the level odours was subjective the scoring system employed was important to understand. For example, a 1 rating was an odour was that was not really noticeable, a level 3 would be a clearly identifiable odour that would be in evidence 80% of the time, a level 4 rating would be an odour that would stick to your clothes whilst a 6 rating would be an odour that would make someone nauseous.
With respect to compost itself Mr Green explained that the production of compost and compost itself at source on-site has an odour. The Permit does not seek to prevent odours arising but does control odours from being noticeable / causing a nuisance off-site. As an example Mr Green explained that at the composting site in the centre of the landfill one might expect to pick up a compost odour but this is controlled by the site and the permit. Furthermore, the PAS100 accreditation that has been achieved at the site confirms that the site has good operational practices in place to prevent the material from turning anaerobic.
Mr Silvester confirmed that the site is well managed and that operations such as turning the windrows is important to maintain the aerobic conditions that enable the compost product to be produced. Mr Silvester also clarified that Cory not only operates to the permit conditions but is also pro-active in its management including undertaking regular site checks.
Mr Holliday felt that the composting process and the management procedures adopted by Cory are not fully understood or appreciated by the wider public and therefore requested that Mr Silvester attend the BCPC meeting next summer to help inform the public. Mr Silvester confirmed he was happy to provide such information / attend such a meeting.
ACTION Mr Silvester to attend a BCPC meeting next Summer
In response to a discussion on other composting techniques Mr Green confirmed that Cory are operating the site to best practice and that techniques such as use of putting blankets over windrows is not effective.
Mr Green also requested that any concerns are raised as soon as possible, as it is difficult for the site or the EA to act on concerns if they are raised the next day or later.
Mr Silvester confirmed that communication is important and that Cory would welcome contact being made direct with the site and that tours of the site could be held to show how the process is operated.
In response to questions raised it was confirmed that Cory had obtained planning permission to recommence green waste composting activities at their Hempsted landfill. Some of the material currently composted at Wingmoor is material bulked up and sent from Hempsted. Having a further facility at Hempsted would both avoid the need for such material to be transported around the County and would help provide restoration material for the Hempsted site. Mr Silvester did confirmed that no link has been made between volumes of compost material and odour complaints.
Mr Silvester explained that once the Hempsted composting facility is up and running this would be a good opportunity for Cory to undertake a further review of the composting processes. As has been the case before Cory would be willing to involve interested parties including Mr Griffiths in such a review. Mr Silvester also suggested whether more frequent meetings would be welcomed to discuss matters rather than issues being left from one quarterly meeting to another. Mr Holliday expressed his view that no further or more frequent meetings were necessary.
8.0 Parish Council Reports
Bishops Cleeve
Mr Holliday provided a copy of an email he had circulated to the Parish Council relating to a residents concern raised on 15 September.
Elmstone Hardwicke
No report.
Stoke Orchard
Mr Troughton, recognised this was not a matter related to the Cory site, however raised an issue over litter being in evidence on the verge near the bridge over the M5. Mr Smith offered to raise this issue with Ubico.
ACTION Mr Smith to raise the issue of litter with Ubico
Mr Troughton also raised the issue over a possible 80,000 tpa Anaerobic Digestion planning application near junction 9 of the M5. Mr Sparrow confirmed that if the proposal was to deal with crops and not waste it would be an application dealt with by TBC. Mr Green also confirmed that if the plant was only to deal with crops it would not be subject to an Environmental Permit.
Swindon
No report.
Uckington
Mr Griffiths identified his concerns over there being large numbers of gulls present in the locality. Mr Griffiths confirmed that the gulls were not feeding on the site but felt they appeared once the site had closed. Mr Ward confirmed that bird control on site was 5 days a week and the falconer was being kept on each evening after landfilling had been finished on the site.
Mr Silvester confirmed that Cory would make contact with Cory’s falconary contractor and Grundon’s and will work constructively with them to seek to amend the pattern of bird controls, at the Cory site, in order to further disrupt any patterns in bird behaviour.
Southam
No report.
Wingmoor Forum
The meeting was postponed. The likely dates for the next meeting are 17th or 24th November.
9.0 Date of Next Meeting / Any Other Business
No other comments.
Next meeting date will be the AGM on Wednesday 20th January keeping the same times i.e. site tour at 1pm and meeting at 2pm.
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