5 December 2011
As expected, there have been further planning applications for wind turbines on farms in the AONB. None have yet been decided. If any or all of them are approved there will no doubt be many more.
As a general rule, the Society will oppose such applications on grounds of damage to the landscape. At a time when relations between farmers and the public are in some places a little strained, it needs to be constructive. Obviously, it should speak for the environment rather than against any group, and it must propose realistic alternative methods of carbon abatement from a position of knowledge. It will not concern itself over turbines of less than 5kW nominal output.
The Society must support the use of renewables where appropriate, and the diversification of energy sources. It needs to know more about technologies such as anaerobic digestion. Debate on this difficult subject will continue, and all members are asked to contribute if they can.
One of the problems for renewables is that they are being promoted while we can see all around us an appalling waste of the energy that we've generated. Why, for instance, should the landscape be blighted in order to generate a very small amount of electricity while so much public and private lighting is left on all night, or while we make so many unnecessary journeys in our cars? So the saving of energy, to which we can all make an immediate contribution at no financial cost, seems a better thing to be getting on with.
To date, all the planning applications for turbines have been based on misleadingly optimistic output figures. The load factor is the percentage of its nominal output that a turbine actually achieves in use, so a 2MWh turbine that averages 400KWh output is said to have a load factor of 20%. It varies according to the wind in the place where the turbine has been installed. The national average, taking into account Shetland and offshore production, is about 27%, but onshore in the south of England it is much lower. The expected load factors quoted in the recent applications in the South Hams have ranged from 34% to 62%. They are clearly unachievable. While this should be a concern for those who are thinking of spending money to install turbines, it is also of wider interest because the saving of a given amount of carbon is often cited in support of planning applications. The Society has questioned the carbon abatement figure in one of the current applications in the South Hams, which it calculates is overstated by a factor of almost eight, but has had no reply from the developer.
If any members have information on the actual outputs and cost-effectiveness of any working renewable generation schemes in the South Hams the committee would very much like to hear from them.
14 November 2011
Wind Turbines
Two applications for wind turbines in the AONB have made headlines in the local press. One is for a single turbine on Chivelstone Barton Farm (no 2824/11, tip height 26m,) and the other is for two turbines on Burton Farm, Galmpton (no 2662/11, tip height 25m). It is inevitable that more such applications will be made, and the committee debated the approach that the Society should take to them. Turbines in this size range could be considered as comparatively small, and it is argued that they would help the viability of farms and thereby keep land in agricultural production. The abatement of carbon emissions is a global necessity that is becoming ever more urgent, so no site should be ruled out. Conditions could help to make the appearance of the turbines more acceptable and ensure reinstatement of the land when their life is over.
On the other hand, the installations would have to be prominently sited and in most cases they would have a markedly detrimental effect on the natural landscape. They would be in clear contravention of current planning policies for the protection of the AONB. While the Society is committed to supporting the area as a living, working environment, it is also a conservation body. Agricultural and commercial interests are well represented in the planning process, but the Society is virtually the only voluntary organisation working for the protection of local landscape and environment.
It was agreed that the Society should in general oppose such applications on grounds of damage to the landscape. The Society should particularly question whether other less obtrusive carbon abatement technologies, such as biomass and anaerobic digestion, have been fully considered. It should also look for the public benefit (as opposed to the benefit of the applicant) that the planning policies require if development in the AONB is to be allowed.
Other Matters
About 150 attended the Any Questions on Renewable Energy? event on 12 November, and many people said they felt better informed as a result of it. An account can be read here.
Consultation on the draft National Planning Policy Framework ended on 17 October. The framework was and continues to be under very sustained attack and it is to be hoped that the criticism will result in changes. Nevertheless a simpler and more transparent system than the present one is needed.
Pegasus Planning Group, acting on behalf of landowners, held a public Planning Forum on 15 November to progress plans for two Kingsbridge sites identified in the DPD. They are K1 (north west of the town) and K5 (West Alvington Hill). Those who have an interest in the development of Kingsbridge should try to attend the next meeting on 8 December.
The Society's funds stand at £3136.
The next meeting of the committee will be on 5 December.
3 October 2011
South Devon AONB
Robin Toogood, South Devon AONB Manager, joined the committee to discuss conservation and planning issues.
The AONB is under enormous pressure for development. A 2007 study by the University of Sheffield showed that of the 35 AONBs in England, South Devon AONB had the highest rate of loss of greenfield land to development. SHS is concerned that quite obtrusive developments are being permitted, and that siting and mitigation are often poorly thought through.
RT believes that a recent increase in applications for larger developments, as well as pressure from SHS, has brought AONB management much more closely into SHDC's planning 'loop' than it was before. Many more applications are being referred to the AONB office for comment. Over the last year the AONB Unit has commented on about 50 of the 1000 or so planning applications in the AONB. About a third of those comments were objections and in those cases most of the applications were refused. Other changes at SHDC mean that applications are being better scrutinised before registration - they are now returned if, for instance, wildlife and landscape issues have not been properly addressed in the application documents. The consequently higher quality of the applications is saving time.
SHS produced a list of some 40 applications for substantial developments within or very close to the AONB on which the Unit did not comment. Many of the them were for large agricultural buildings, and some were part of a process of creeping development - where one building is allowed because officers consider it to be acceptable, and then applications for other buildings which have to be in the same place swiftly follow. RT agreed to look through SHS's list.
RT was surprised by the number of applications for large agricultural buildings that SHS had listed. Many farmers are wanting them so that they can overwinter cattle indoors, which they see as being necessary if they are to compete with producers in other parts of the country. Though such buildings can be very obtrusive, particularly if poorly sited and/or finished, the AONB Partnership has no position statement on them. SHS believes it should. RT will raise the question at a forthcoming regional meeting of AONB managers. Some of these buildings come about through 'creep' and others under permitted development, but SHS feels that SHDC should nevertheless try to exercise better control of siting and appearance.
There would be advantage in looking at a random sample of recently-approved large rural buildings to check whether planning conditions are being observed, particularly on landscaping. This would need to be the subject of a separate study.
Some AONBs have a Conservation Board or are able to employ a professional planning officer, which increases their influence in planning matters. These are usually the richer ones, often those which have to relate to many different Local Planning Authorities. RT feels this is unlikely to happen in South Devon. The councils have gone part of the way with the new planning protocol, but there is a strong case for the AONB Unit becoming a statutory consultee in planning matters. SDAONB's income is likely to be reduced in the future, so there is little prospect of being able to employ anybody to help with planning applications. RT believes he can cope with the current level of referrals, but would not be able to take on more as the AONB Unit is also working on a wide range of other projects and activities.
SHS feels that it might help if the AONB Unit could offer a training session or sessions to to help SHDC officers understand the special characteristics of the AONB - landscape as opposed to amenity.
SHDC Development Policy 18 (horse related uses and structures) is not yet well observed, especially section 1 c, which requires a proper scheme of management for ancillary development.
RT shares SHS's concern at the seemingly inevitable collision between the provisions of the draft National Planning Policy Framework, the Localism Bill and the Natural Choices white paper. He confirmed that, under a recent ministerial statement, wildlife habitats are to be regarded as forming part of "natural beauty".
SHS believes that the planning process in the AONB and associated decision-making would be greatly helped by the introduction of the GIS Atlas. It is regretted that progress on the Atlas has been impeded by the widening of its scope to include other AONBs and this decision needs to be reviewed in order to gain the benefits in the near future
SHS thanks RT for the meeting and feels the discussion was very useful. The Society acknowledges that good progress is being made in securing better planning protection for the AONB, but considers that more could be made in particular with agricultural buildings. It suggests that similar meetings between SHS and AONB Management should be repeated at regular intervals in the future.
Other matters
Members and others are reminded of the Society's Any Questions on Renewable Energy? event, to be held on 12 November in the King's Arms Hotel in Kingsbridge. A strong panel has been assembled under the chairmanship of Jonathan Dimbleby, who is personally very interested in the subject, so it should be a good discussion. Entry will be free to all.
The Society's funds stand at £3686.
The next meeting of the committee will be on 7 November. Please contact a committee member if you have any points to raise.
5 September 2011
Our stand at what appeared to be a very successful Kingsbridge Show attracted plenty of people who were interested in the Society's aims and objectives. We are planning to do it again next year.
Viridor's application for an EfW incineration plant at New England Quarry, Lee Mill, seems no nearer to determination. It was removed from the agenda of the 20 July meeting of the county council's planning committee at the request of Viridor, who said they wanted to provide more information. That information has still not been submitted and when it is there may be a need for further consultation.
Planning application 1494/11, relating to stables and horse-related activities south of Chillington, has been approved, albeit with conditions for mitigating visual impact. Application 1031/11, for the same use and in the same area, has been refused. Application 1313/11, for the same use but between Malborough and Salcombe, has also been refused. All are in the AONB and the Society objected to all three.
We were expecting the GIS Atlas of the South Devon AONB this month but are told that it is delayed, partly because it has become a joint project with other bodies. It grows in complexity and becomes more difficult to execute, ominously like the NHS computer system.
The Government White Paper Natural Choice is still available to read here. We understand that the South Devon AONB is considered too small to be considered as a Nature Improvement Area (page 21), but that there may be a possibility of combining with other territory.
There is some more important reading in the Draft National Planning Policy Framework, which is here. Everybody who is interested in the environment should look at it and if so inclined should comment. Obviously the 'presumption' is important. To quote, it 'is a new policy designed to ensure that the planning system as a whole focuses on opportunities. The presumption means that where local plans are not up-to-date, or not a clear basis for decisions, development should be allowed. But the development should not be allowed if it would undermine the key principles for sustainability in the Framework (such as protecting the Green Belt and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The presumption also means that where development is in line with the local plan, it should be allowed without delay. The presumption will encourage plan-making by councils and communities, giving them a greater say in how they meet their development needs. It will also give communities, developers and investors more certainty about the types of applications that are likely to be approved. This will help to speed up the planning process.' We hope that the protection granted to AONBs will be stronger than in practice it now is. The consultation period ends on 17 October.
There is of course an obvious incompatibility between the Natural Choice white paper which emphasises the need to protect the ordinary countryside, so that highways and stepping stones can be formed between protected wildlife sites, and the Planning Policy Framework which permits development anywhere outside the greenbelts and AONBs.
Renewable energy in the South Hams is becoming an ever hotter topic. On 12 November we are holding 'Any Questions on Renewable Energy?' in the King's Arms, Kingsbridge. Experts on the various options will be gathered under the chairmanship of Jonathan Dimbleby. For more information please go to Events.
Sadly Clara Hayes, our treasurer, needs to step down from the job so we are seeking somebody else to take on the accounts. If you think you might be able to help please call Clara on 01548-843894. She will explain what is involved.
The Society's funds stand at £4456.
The next meeting of the committee will be on 3 October, when the focus will be on the protection, in planning terms, of the AONB. Please contact a committee member if you have any points to raise.
4 July 2011
Viridor's application for an EfW incineration plant at New England Quarry, Lee Mill, is still not decided. We were pleased that DCC planners recommended refusal, largely on environmental grounds, but then we heard that the council had received new information, presumably from Viridor, so did not make the decision on 20 July as expected. The basis of the Society's objection was that now MVV Umwelt's Devonport site has been chosen by the South West Devon Waste Partnership, the incinerator at New England Quarry would have to seek feedstock from outside SW Devon and is badly located for the purpose.
In her foreword to the current Government White Paper Natural Choice, Caroline Spelman (Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs) says "As the Government sets about repairing the damage to the economy, we are launching this White Paper to mend the inherited damage in our natural environment. Thousands responded to our recent consultation and told us that they want to safeguard the inheritance of future generations. Valuing nature properly holds the key to a green and growing economy, one which invests in nature - not just for us but for our children's children." This is a message that is very much in line with the Society's objectives and it intends to contribute as best it can. The white paper offers many ideas for local implementation and initiative. Please do read it if you haven't already. Then feel free to tell the committee what you think should be done in the South Hams and how you can help.
A member of the Society, the AONB Manager and SHDC's landscape officer have raised concerns about parcels of land south of Chillington being sold off for horse-related use, which for planning purposes the district council rightly regards as something different from agriculture. The Society feels that in the AONB in particular such use should be controlled because it leads to fields becoming neglected and cluttered, and to requirements for stables, tack rooms and stores. It has objected to two applications for stables (1013/11 and 1494/11) and has asked SHDC about enforcement action on another site. In a different place, it is also pressing SHDC on the history of application 1313/11 (stable at Horsecombe, near Salcombe).
We're still looking for photographs of unspoiled South Hams countryside for the website. Please email them to churchhouse@gmail.com We also have a new page for poems and a page which for want of a better name is called Discoveries, where we hope that members who've found something good in the South Hams will share it.
In this our 50thyear we are going to have a presence at the Kingsbridge Show on 3rd September. Please
come and see us in the craft marquee. And on 14thOctober we shall be holding a jazz evening and buffet supper at the King's Arms in Kingsbridge. Please put it in your diary now.
The Society's funds stand at £4412.
The next meeting of the committee will be on 5 September.
(The committee meeting scheduled for 6 June was cancelled.)
9 May 2011
Those who watched the Society's recent showing of Rebecca Hosking's film Message in the Waves, or have seen it elsewhere, will need no persuading that plastic bags, plastic lighters and all other kinds of disposable plastic are best avoided altogether, but at least must be kept out of rivers and the sea. Their effect on wildlife is disgusting and has to be seen to be believed. In the South Hams the problem may not be on the scale of that in the Hawaiian Islands, but those who've been on local beach cleans will know that it's real enough. (Our next beach clean, incidentally, is on 18 June - all welcome - see Events )
But we obviously need to work harder to tackle the problem at source. In conjunction with Agenda 21, we want drastically to reduce the use of plastic bags in Kingsbridge and Salcombe. Thanks to Rebecca Hoskings, Modbury is famously already there, of course. Our campaign is mainly directed toward working with shopkeepers and supermarkets, but the real impetus will come from the choices that shoppers make for themselves. Please help, and if you're interested do come to Freedom from Plastic Group's meeting at the King's Arms Hotel at 6.30pm on Tuesday 31 May.
Not so very long after the redevelopment of the Gara Rock Hotel, in a very prominent position within the AONB, planning applications have now been submitted or are expected for the redevelopment of three other hotels on our coast (the Sun Bay Hotel in Hope Cove, the Port Light on Bolberry Down, and Soar Mill Cove Hotel). If approved, any of these proposals may produce an increase in jobs for local people, a greater inflow of money to the South Hams, and possibly a better designed building, but they all include apartments and they are all significantly larger than the building they are to replace. With their car parks and other facilities they will become more prominent and will undeniably move our coast one more step toward the over-development that has blighted Torbay and parts of Cornwall.
The Society is watching the progress of the localism bill with interest. The central idea is that planning will be bottom upwards rather than top down. Plans for development could be brought forward by local people, and developers would have to consult local people before putting forward plans for large developments. We are in correspondence with our Totnes MP Dr Wollaston on the bill, trying in particular to support an amendment which would in certain defined circumstances give a community the right to appeal against a planning decision. The correspondence is at Other Documents.
We are looking forward to the publication in mid-September of an Atlas of the South Devon AONB in GIS form. It is to be published by the AONB partnership and it will be very comprehensive. It will include point locations of listed buildings and entries on the Historic Environment Register, as well as the location and extent of scheduled ancient monuments, registered parks and gardens, and conservation areas.
The Society's funds stand at £4429 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
Next meeting: 6 June
4 April 2011
As was expected and despite over 150 letters of objection, Midas Homes' application for 43 houses at Rowes Farm, Stoke Gabriel was approved by SHDC's Development Management Committee. We regret that so many Stoke Gabriel residents will be angered for the gain of so few affordable houses and the loss of so much greenfield land.
There will be more applications for estate-type developments in the sites approved in the DPD. We hope
that members of the Society will join us in pressing for the best possible environmental mitigation and the highest possible proportion of affordable homes. That the site is in the approved DPD obviously works in favour of an application, but it doesn't guarantee approval or exempt the design and environmental provisions from close scrutiny.
One way in which local communities might bring about the affordable housing they want, where they want it and under their control after it is built, is through a community land trust. CLTs are organisations set up by local people to improve or protect their village or neighbourhood. They do it by owning, managing and developing land and/or buildings. For more information please click here.
We are still awaiting the new AONB planning protocol. The hope is that it will enable and encourage theAONB Partnership to provide earlier and more effective input to planning matters. SHDC, as the council most involved, has said that the new protocol will be reviewed after six months. So in about October we shall be saying whether we think it's working. The views of members are and will be sought. There is more here.
Please mark your diaries now with the 'Message in the Waves' evening on 19 May. See Events.
The Society's funds stand at £4584 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
Next meeting: 6 June
7 March 2011
The Society's funds stand at £4485 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
Any members who have not done so are encouraged to look at Midas' application for 43 houses at
Rowes Farm, Stoke Gabriel (SHDC 0008/11), which runs counter to most local feeling and many current planning policies. It is not too late to make your views known. The 17 houses being built by a housing trust near Charnwood in Malborough (0034/10) demonstrate a far better way of providing affordable homes.
Correspondence with SHDC on both the new planning protocol for the AONB and on pre-application discussions has continued. The protocol should be published within the next month or so. SHDC has turned down our suggestion that records of pre-application discussions be made available on request, but it is acknowledged good practice that they should be and we shall continue to press our case. The correspondence can be seen here.
As many members will have observed, the recent dredging of the Kingsbridge basin and other parts of the Kingsbridge estuary was by agitation only. We are in some doubt as to whether this method is either effective or totally benign to marine organisms. If you have knowledge of this subject please make yourself known.
For a display on local organisations with significant anniversaries in 2011, Kingsbridge museum needs photos or artefacts relating to the early days of the Society. If you have anything, particularly photographs of events, please get in touch with Nicola Fox (nicola_fox1001@tiscali.co.uk) as soon as possible.
The officers and committee of the Society will come up for election/re-election at the AGM on 12 April. Please come along to express your views. Even better, if you would like to stand for the committee or one of the posts, please let John Chalmers know in advance (john@croftroad.eclipse.co.uk).
Next meeting: 4 April
7 February 2011
The Society's funds stand at £4352 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
The inspectors' report on SHDC's site allocation DPD has been published - click here to see it. Mixed use allocations at Borough Park, Totnes, Marldon and Stokenham, and housing allocations at Thurlestone and Ugborough were deleted because delivery could not be assured. The Leigh Cross (Kingsbridge) employment site was also deleted and the size of the housing allocation at Paignton Road in Stoke Gabriel was reduced, both because of impact on the AONB.
This still leaves 93% of the Rural Areas housing in large greenfield sites, often in the AONB. The Society is thinking very carefully how it should continue to try to protect these AONB/greenfield sites from the applications that will now be submitted by developers, who will propose lower densities and press for a reduction in the proportion of houses that must be affordable - in both cases increasing the land required to meet SHDC targets.
As an early example of this, members might like to look at Midas' current application for 43 houses at Rowes Farm, Stoke Gabriel (SHDC 52/008/11/F, comments until 2 March). An application for Loddiswell (very low density and in the AONB) is due in the spring.
Where a village is opposed to a large developer-led scheme one possibility may be to bring forward in its place a community housing project over which it will have much more control. This is something the Society will investigate further.
There has been a further exchange of letters with SHDC on the draft AONB Planning Protocol. SHDC's intention is that its own landscape officers should sift through planning applications and draw the attention of the AONB Unit to any that they think it should examine. The Society feels that the AONB Unit should be seen to be working independently and should carry out its own checks, and that the judgement of SHDC's landscape officers has anyway proved unreliable in the recent past. An early draft of the protocol and subsequent correspondence can be seen here. In relation to planning throughout the district, the Society has also asked that records of pre-application discussions should invariably be kept and made available for public inspection.
Next meeting: 7 March
10 January 2011
The Society's funds stand at £3238 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
Most of this meeting was devoted to a discussion with District Councillor Mike Howarth, who is SHDC's lead member on planning, about the Society's concerns over the council's treatment of the AONB.
The Society regretted that formal consultation with the AONB Unit had taken place only very late in SHDC's recent LDF site allocation exercise. It appeared that the council had found it easiest to concentrate on large sites adjoining towns and villages, with the result that 93% of the housing identified would be on greenfield sites, much of it within the AONB.
Cllr Howarth agreed that the process was imperfect. But SHDC had had to identify sites on which housing could be delivered by 2016. Brownfield sites were by their nature more difficult to bring forward in a short period of time because they were often complex (for reasons of multiple ownership, contamination, etc.), and smaller sites were obviously financially less attractive to developers. With the resources at its disposal the council had to some extent had to go for the more straightforward options. It had provided much more opportunity for consultation than it was required to provide. The AONB unit could have involved itself at a much earlier stage if it had wished. SHDC should receive a draft of the inspectors' report on site allocations by the end of January.
The Society questioned the quality of landscape assessment in the handling of applications, citing some recent cases, and it felt that officer reports needed to argue more closely in relation to policies. Where structure plan policy CO3 (AONBs) was concerned the economic and/or social benefit to the area, rather than to the applicant, was rarely if ever discussed. It might be better if more applications faced examination by the planning committee - over 95% are delegated at the moment.
It was agreed that the AONB unit should be consulted more and landscape assessments should be to higher standards. It was important that the revised AONB planning protocol now being negotiated should give the AONB an effective voice. The council encourages delegation because it speeds up the decision process. Enforcement remains a problem for SHDC.
Next meeting: 7 February
6 December 2010
The Society's funds stand at £3631 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
The Society has written to the county council, asking that it delay a decision on Viridor's planning application for an 'Energy from Waste' (i.e. incineration) plant at New England Farm, Lee Mill. The alternative proposal known as Option 7 appears to be preferable from both a financial and an environmental point of view. Under it waste would initially be processed in one of a number of local materials recovery facilities, with only the residue going for disposal by pyrolysis/gasification. This approach would greatly reduce trucking, and would provide more local employment and economic benefit. More waste would be recycled and less would have to go for landfill. We hope members will write to DCC to express their views.
The Society's chairman took part in the Salcombe session of the Inspector's Hearing of SHDC's Site Allocation DPDs. The inspectors put forward four issues for discussion. Firstly, whether development of Site 1 (fields at Batson Cross, Bonfire Hill) would have a detrimental impact on the AONB. The Society and the National Trust maintained it would. Secondly, what were the council's intentions for extending the park and ride and the cemetery. The council said they would be accommodated in Site 1, and the Society suggested part of Site 5. Thirdly, whether the Shadycombe Creek employment site would detrimentally impact the AONB. It was generally agreed it would not. Lastly the inspectors allowed discussion of an alternative site and the Society put forward a scheme for housing over the Shadycombe car park. The council agreed this was the most attractive site.
SHDC's new Village Housing Initiative, whereby a person owning land in a village in which there is a proven housing need for local people may propose it for a development of up to about fifteen affordable homes, is in line with the Society's desire to see affordable housing provided by local initiative within communities. It is much better than the top-down imposition of large developer-led estates on greenfield sites that has featured so strongly in SHDC's recent site allocation DPD.
A new AONB planning protocol is currently being negotiated. It sets out the rules under which theplanning authorities must involve the AONB management and under which the AONB management can comment on planning applications. The latest draft that we have seen appears to place the AONB management in too weak a position and the Society will press for it to be allowed a stronger role.
The Environment Agency's plan to allow tidal flooding of part of South Efford Marsh is going ahead. The science seems doubtful, Aveton Gifford parish council's EGM showed opinion very much against it, and many still think it a waste of money. But local ornithological expertise is in favour and Devon Wildlife Trust, as managers, will benefit financially.
Next meeting: 10 January.
8 November 2010
The Society's funds stand at £3702 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).The debate on future methods of waste disposal in south west Devon continues. New and different figures for the authorities' recycling rates have become available and it now seems that Viridor's operation might be made slightly more efficient by some preliminary sorting. Recovery operations such as TQ Recycling's have a very much smaller capacity than Viridor's, but the latter would not come on stream for two years so there is time for TQ's and other recovery facilities to close the gap.
The planning inspectors are currently holding hearings on SHDC's site allocation DPDs. Together with about a dozen other objectors, the Society's chairman took part in the session on district-wide "matters and issues" on 2 November. He spoke mainly about the exercise as it affected rural areas, where SHDC's dependence on developers to provide affordable housing would mean disproportionately large estates on greenfield sites adjoining many of the 18 villages which have schools and shops. SHDC did not seek sites in villages without schools or shops, but there are many which would welcome a small number of affordable houses and could accommodate them on brownfield sites.
It seems that there may be an opportunity to object to DCC's plan to place parking meters in Kingsbridge Fore Street, but it will be a limited one. The society believes the move would be bad for local traders.
We need members' e-mail addresses. If you haven't already done so, please send yours to Nicola Fox: nicola_fox1001@tiscali.co.uk
Next meeting: 6 December
4 October 2010
The Society's funds stand at £4230 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
Waste management is very much a current topic. We have tried to compare TQ Recycling's new materials recovery facility in Torr Quarry Industrial Estate with Viridor's proposal for a waste incineration plant at Lea Mill. TQ's locally owned operation can separate glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium, steel and plastic, and then sort plastic by polymer. There is a market for all these recycling streams. Viridor's plant would generate some electricity, but incineration has the disadvantages that the burnt material (particularly plastic) is lost as a resource, expensive filters are needed to take out the dioxins, a 90m chimney is required to get rid of the fly ash, and some ash still needs to go to landfill. There is opposition from people living near the site. We think we should support recovery over incineration.
Batson Green has been registered as a village green, giving it permanent protection. We hope other towns and villages will follow suit.
The Planning Inspectorate has received some 4,500 representations on SHDC's Site Allocations DPD. The society will attend and speak at the hearings next month. It feels that SHDC was overambitious in trying to be one of the first councils to attempt an LDF - its resources were too small, and the time too short, for genuine consultation with all the communities and interests in the district. Several towns and villages entered the consultation process late, and there was a proliferation of action groups when people realised what was happening. And the regional spatial strategy which was the founding block of the process has now been abolished.
Over a period of three years SHDC has given planning permission for thirteen large buildings in the AONB at Hendham View Farm, Woodleigh, without the involvement of its planning committee. The buildings cover 5,760 sq m., making the development about the same size as Churchstow Industrial Estate. We are concerned that the AONB has had so little protection and various representations have been made. More next month.
DCC's plan for parking meters in Kingsbridge Fore Street represents yet another blow for local traders and should be opposed. If there is any opportunity for public consultation we will object.
Next meeting: 8 November.
6 September 2010
The Society's funds stand at £4290 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
SHDC's intention to buy and operate a crane for lifting boats in and out of the water at Salcombe appears to be irreversible.
SHDC has confirmed that it will continue with its Site Allocation DPDs despite the scrapping of the Regional Spatial Strategy. It said the new DPDs had always been based on local wishes. The public examination will take place in November.
To comply with the EC directive on landfill, the South West Waste Consortium (formed of Devon, Plymouth and Torbay councils) is seeking to deal with waste by incineration (Energy from Waste) and has been negotiating with two companies, of which Viridor is the front runner with a proposal for a plant at Lea Mill. This means that Torbay and Plymouth, which recycle only 35% and 31% of their waste respectively, against 52% for Devon, will be trucking large quantities into the South Hams. To achieve the temperatures required the process involves burning plastic that would otherwise be recyclable, and the electricity produced is very costly. The plant requires a 90m chimney to distribute the fly ash and also produces a residual ash that must be tipped into landfill. There are other ways of dealing with waste that are better for the environment. Viridor has nevertheless applied to DEFRA for the necessary licence for the plant. The Society will be represented at a conference on the project on 1 October.
The Society has complained to SHDC about apparent disregard for its own core policies on the AONB, with particular reference to barns at Hendham View Farm, Woodleigh.
On 17 September there will be a public meeting in Aveton Gifford on the Environment Agency's revised proposal for South Efford Marshes. It now involves the flooding of only 7ha. Many uncertainties remain and the EA has admitted that the existing freshwater marsh has become more diverse in recent years. In terms of SHS's aims there appear to be no benefits and possibly some disadvantages.
Next meeting: 4 October
5 July 2010
The Society's funds stand at £4677 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
There has been concern in Salcombe over SHDC's plan to buy a crane for lifting boats in and out of the water. SHDC will operate it as a monopoly, which some see as part of a trend for the council to maximise revenue from the harbour for itself at the expense of the boatmen, craftsmen and small businesses trying to make a living there. This is clearly bad for the town and the society will make representations through the Salcombe and Kingsbridge Estuary Association.
SHDC's Site Allocation DPD process appears to be continuing, despite the new government having scrapped the Regional Spatial Strategy on which it was based. Now that housing requirements are the responsibility of Local Planning Authorities, SHDC could if it so wished drop the site allocation documents and rethink the whole problem of affordable housing.
SHDC has approved an amended planning application for the house at Gerston Point. The decision to allow a new dwelling with five times the footprint of the one it replaced is difficult to understand.
To the regret of many people in Kingsbridge, work has started on the Tesco site. The new car park in the Western Power site will not be opened until well after the Cookworthy one is closed, which will cause a problem, and the promise of improved access to Fore Street has been lost.
The South Hams Society will be 50 years old next year.
Next meeting: 6 September.
7 June 2010
The Society's funds stand at £4725 (total of current, reserve and NS&I accounts).
2 July is the deadline for the public to comment on the process by which SHDC produced its Site Allocation Development Plan Document. To help those who want to comment a short explanation will be placed on the website. A letter of 9 February to SHDC, already on the website, may also help. SHS's chief concern must be the effect on the AONB of the Kingsbridge Leigh Cross and other proposals. The site selection process was defective in many ways, notably in its failure to take account of landscape and wildlife designations, and in its 50% affordable housing rule having already been broken. There has to be some doubt about the future of the DPD anyway: the new government has said that regional strategies will be abolished, so the RSS and its housing requirement for the district, both of which were founding blocks of the DPD, are effectively dead.
The society has objected to an application for a domestic wind turbine at Broadley, Diptford. The committee feels that such turbines should not be permitted in the AONB. It has also written to the Environment Agency about Viridor's application for a waste incinerator at Lee Mill. Viridor has not yet been chosen as a contractor, and better processes than theirs are now becoming available, so the application is premature.
There is concern that the Environment Agency has bought fields at South Efford, in Aveton Gifford, with the intention of flooding them to form salt marsh in order to comply with an EU directive aimed at increasing habitat for migrating birds. There was no local consultation and there are worries: it might mean 25-50 years of sterile mud before the new vegetation is established, and the overall effect on birds on the Avon might not be a positive one.
Next meeting: 5 July.