ON BEHALF OF VIRIDOR WASTE EXETER LIMITED

Transcription

1 THE NORTH SOMERSET COUNCIL (SOUTH BRISTOL LINK CLASSIFIED ROAD) SIDE ROADS ORDER 2013 THE NORTH SOMERSET COUNCIL (SOUTH BRISTOL LINK) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2013 THE NORTH SOMERSET COUNCIL (SOUTH BRISTOL LINK) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER (NO.2) 2014 ACQUISITION OF LAND ACT APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE UNDER SECTION 19(1)(A) PROOF OF EVIDENCE OF Laurie Read MSc BSc MCIWM CEnv ON BEHALF OF VIRIDOR WASTE EXETER LIMITED In relation to VIRIDOR S OBJECTIONS

2 1 Introduction 1.1 I am employed as the Landfill Aftercare Manager for Viridor Waste (Exeter) Ltd (Viridor), responsible for the management of Viridor s portfolio of closed landfills across the United Kingdom. 1.2 I have been employed in this position for the past four years. Since my initial employment by Viridor, seven years ago, I have held the positions of Assistant Landfill Aftercare Manager and Regional Closed Site Supervisor (South East). 1.3 Within the role as Landfill Aftercare Manager I am responsible for the management of closed landfills to ensure compliance with the Environmental Permit and all other regulatory permissions applicable to the site. 1.4 Previous to my employment by Viridor I was employed by the Environment Agency as an Environment Officer for five years. This position required me to regulate and enforce unauthorised and authorised waste management activities, as well as responding to and investigating pollution incidents in the South East Region (Kent and East Sussex). 1.5 I hold MSc in Environmental Decision Making from the Open University and a BSc (Hons) Zoology from Reading University. 1.6 I obtained membership of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management in 2011 and became a Chartered Environmentalist in the same year. 2 Knowledge of Yanley Landfill 2.1 Yanley (Closed) Landfill transferred into my team s responsibility in 2012, following the completion of the restoration activities at the site, which was undertaken by Viridor s operational team. Since the transfer I have been responsible for ensuring compliance with the Environmental Permit and ensuring the provision of sufficient management resource to manage the site activities. 2.2 The Environmental Permit details the management and minimisation of the environmental impact on emissions to atmosphere, land, surface water and groundwater. 2.3 This is achieved through robust risk based management processes that determine how Viridor manages the environmental risk through the environmental control of gas and leachate and the land management of the site.

3 3 Details of Objections 3.1 Viridor was notified of the submission of the planning application in August 2013 by North Somerset Council as part of the planning process. Viridor subsequently contacted North Somerset Council (Evidence E27) to raise Viridor s concerns relating the application and sought early engagement with the Council to discuss the issues associated with the proposal to construct a road through Viridor s Yanley (Closed) Landfill. 3.2 On 10 th January 2014, Viridor submitted an objection letter following the receipt of the North Somerset Council (South Bristol Link Classified Road) Side Roads Order 2013 and the North Somerset Council (South Bristol Link) Compulsory Purchase Order (Evidence E28) 3.3 On the 30 th June 2014, Viridor issued a position statement (Evidence E29) detailing the work actively undertaken with North Somerset Council to reach an agreement that would permit Viridor to remove the objections detailed in the letter of the 10 th January At the date of writing, insufficient progress has been made to enable the objection to be withdrawn. The detail of the objection is as follows: 4 Regulatory concern and uncertainty 4.1 I have read the evidence of North Somerset Council provided by; John Yexley relating to property matters (NSC/12/1 & NSC/12/3); Nick Rowson relating to landscape and exchange land matters (NSC/5/1, NSC5/2 & NSC/5/3); and Philip Paterson relating to engineering matters (NSC/2/1, NSC/2/2 & NSC/2/3). I do not consider the implications of regulatory control imposed through the Permit to have been sufficiently detailed within that evidence. Specifically the remaining risk that, at the point of the public inquiry, the partial surrender and variation of the Permit to modify the Permit with regards to the monitoring network, surface water scheme and Permit boundary will not have been completed. While discussions have been held with the Environment Agency, no definitive decision can be obtained until the variation has been submitted and the 13 week determination period completed. This uncertainty is a significant risk to the Scheme and Viridor. 4.2 The site is a regulated waste management site and is and will continue to be operated under the Environmental Permit EPR/BT7272IW/V004. (Evidence E5) (the Permit)

4 4.3 The Permit is a permission issued to Viridor, which is required for waste management facilities (as detailed in Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990), by the Environment Agency that describes how the site is to be operated and monitored to ensure that there is proactive protection of the environment from the risk of pollution arising from the deposited waste within the landfill. The Permit is supported by the site Closure Plan (Evidence E6) which further details how the site is to be managed and the environment monitored. Within the Permit (and associated Closure Plan) the extent of the environmental monitoring network both surrounding the landfill and within the landfill is detailed. Viridor is legally responsible to protect and maintain this network too as it is critical to the ongoing assessment of the performance of the landfill and of the surrounding environment. There are a number of compliance limits within the Permit that are assigned to a variety of performance determinants, such as specific chemical concentrations in the surrounding groundwater. Failure to undertake the monitoring and assessment of the site against these compliance limits will result in a breach of the Permit which will be subject to enforcement action in line with the Environment Agency s Enforcement and Prosecution Policy. The proposed routing of the South Bristol Link Road passes within the regulated permit boundary of the Permit and will be subject the regulatory requirements detailed within the Permit. This can be seen on the Ownership plan and CPO Boundary Plan (Evidence E4). 4.4 The proposed development is not associated with the waste activity, is not the responsibility or under the control of Viridor during or after the construction phase and therefore results in an uncertain risk to Viridor. Further, on the completion of the road, following the land acquisition by North Somerset Council, the public highway and associated infrastructure within the transferred land will remain within the permit boundary and as a consequence, within Viridor s legal responsibilities detailed within the Permit resulting in an ongoing risk and complication to Viridor. 4.5 The proposed South Bristol Link Road is to be constructed in very close proximity to the edge of waste engineering of the landfill and the associated pollution control infrastructure (gas collection systems, leachate abstraction system) that protects the environment from the pollution risk of the deposited waste within the engineered landfill. This can be seen on the following plans; (i) Site Services Plan (Evidence E1), (ii) Environmental Monitoring Plan (Evidence E2) and (iii) Gas Infrastructure Plan (Evidence E3). 4.6 Within the Permit, Viridor is required to protect this permanent engineering in order to retain control of the waste and the associated pollution risk. The road development must not impact or result in compromising the landfill engineering as this will almost certainly result in an impact to the environment and subsequent enforcement action being undertaken by the Environment Agency against Viridor for breach of the Permit and/or pollution of the environment under the appropriate legislation in line with the Environment Agency s Enforcement and Prosecution Policy. 4.7 The South Bristol Link Road route requires the destruction (loss) of three environmental monitoring boreholes that measure the quality of the groundwater surrounding the landfill and the presence of landfill gas outside of containment. These can be seen on the Environmental Monitoring Plan (Evidence E2) and are boreholes labelled YN601, YN607 and YN608.

5 4.8 These boreholes form part of the Permit and Viridor is legally obliged to protect, maintain and monitor these boreholes, until such a time where possible replacement monitoring wells are agreed with the Environment Agency. Failure to undertake the monitoring requirements within the Permit, without agreement with the Environment Agency, constitutes a breach of the Permit and will be subject to enforcement action by the Environment Agency in line with the Environment Agency Enforcement and Prosecution Policy. 4.9 The South Bristol Link Road requires the surface water management infrastructure to be changed as the route of the road required the removal and relocation of two existing attenuation lagoons. These can be seen on the Existing Ponds Plan (Evidence E22) The Permit requires that the site has a sustainable surface water management scheme installed on the site. The site has an approved and established surface water management system. In response to the proposed development this previously approved site-wide scheme requires redesign and subsequent approval by the Environment Agency. Failure to obtain this approval from the Environment Agency prior to changes to the existing scheme will constitute a breach of the Permit and will be subject to enforcement action by the Environment Agency in line with the Environment Agency Enforcement and Prosecution Policy. 5 Security and access to the landfill and generation compound during the works 5.1 Viridor must be guaranteed 24/7 access to the site during the works to ensure we can continue to meet both our legal and business responsibilities - 6 Permanent access post completion of the road 6.1 Viridor has detailed the minimum access requirements from the public highway in order to ensure sufficient width for the types of vehicles associated with this type of activity 7 Permanent site security post completion of the scheme 7.1 The finished security arrangements associated with the new public highway in order to ensure that there is no public access to the site. 8 Viridor s trade effluent discharge consent and protection of discharge infrastructure 8.1 Viridor s trade effluent discharge consent and protection of associated discharge infrastructure must be protected and retained during and post the South Bristol Link Road construction.

6 8.2 Viridor has consent to discharge trade effluent to the public sewer (Evidence E7 & E8), the discharge pipeline to the public sewer passes through the land required for the South Bristol Link Road. This can be seen on the Site Services Plan (Evidence 1). This pipeline will require relocation and installation of additional infrastructure (culverts and assess) under the road to ensure Viridor can continue to discharge trade effluent arising from the landfill and undertaken maintenance and repair activities over subsequent years 9 Access for the construction of the South Bristol Link Road 9.1 Access to the construction site for advance works associated with the Railway works is necessary for NSC (Early works). Viridor has a lease from Mr James that allows access (via the main tarmac haul road) for Viridor employees and contractors for the purpose of delivering our responsibilities of the operation of the landfill and generating compound only. 9.2 Viridor has no powers to allow anyone associated with the SBL construction or any associated works to use this access route. Viridor requires NSC to have resolved through purchase of this haul road and the cancellation of Viridor s access lease prior to commencing the early works. 10 The Agreement 10.1 Over the past three months, Viridor has been actively working with North Somerset Council and their representatives to reach a legal agreement that addresses the above objections The agreement between Viridor and North Somerset Council is, at the time of writing this proof of evidence, in draft status and has yet to be signed by either party If the agreement as negotiated between Viridor and North Somerset Council is signed then the objections detailed above can be withdrawn. However, Viridor cannot over emphasise the residual risk that remains associated with the regulatory complications that are in place on Viridor s land holding There are no guarantees that the regulatory revisions required to satisfactorily resolve the regulatory complications at Yanley (Closed) Landfill will be successful. 11 Regulatory concern and uncertainty Variation of the Permitted Boundary and surrender of part of the existing Permit. - Discussions with the Environment Agency has indicated that a partial surrender of the Permit and a variation of the permitted boundary is possible. This is seen in an from Miriam Townshend (Environment Agency) to Lisa Edmonds (Viridor, Permitting Manager) on the 13 th May (Evidence E30)

7 It must be noted that the successful surrender and variation of the Permit is not guaranteed Verification of edge of waste engineering Both the methodology (Evidence E13) and the permission to undertake these works have been provided by the Environment Agency (Evidence E31) and works on both will commence within 14 days Installation of replacement monitoring boreholes Both the methodology (Evidence E12) and the permission to undertake these works have been provided by the Environment Agency (Evidence E31) and works on both will commence within 14 days Please note that whilst permission to install the replacement monitoring boreholes has been given, there remains uncertainty relating to the period of cross monitoring required before the existing boreholes can be decommissioned. There is a risk that the Environment Agency will require a prolonged period of baseline monitoring before they will accept the loss of the existing boreholes (~15 months of monitoring) Surface water management scheme Considerable work has been undertaken to date by SLR Consulting on behalf of Viridor and a scheme in principle has been drawn up that addresses the long term management of the landfill surface water to prevent flooding or pollution to the environment. (Evidence E14) It must be noted that the detailed design of the surface water is not finalised as the detailed road design is not finalised. There is a risk that the surface water scheme for both the road and the landfill may not be achievable due to available land for attenuation lagoons, sufficient falls due to the level and location of the road. Further, because the detailed design is not available then there is not a scheme that the Environment Agency can approve. There remains a risk that the finalised detailed scheme may not obtain approval from the Environment Agency. 12 Remaining objections addressed satisfactorily by the agreement 12.1 Security and access to the landfill and generation compound during the works 12.2 Permanent access post completion of the road 12.3 Viridor s trade effluent discharge consent and protection of discharge infrastructure 12.4 Access for the construction of the South Bristol Link Road 13 Conclusion

8 13.1 Viridor has been actively working with North Somerset Council to address the objections to the South Bristol Link Road CPO through the finalisation of an agreement which provides sufficient protection to Viridor in addressing regulatory, environmental and access concerns as detailed within Viridor s objection letter In the absence of this agreement,viridor has concerns that the environmental liabilities associated with the regulated landfill are not adequately addressed.