Mark Emery, Environment Agency. Andy Thorne, WSCC Waste. Debbie Wiltshire, Fisher Pharmaceuticals.

Transcription

1 Biffa Brookhurst Wood Local Liaison Group Meeting: 20th July 2016 at Biffa West Sussex Ltd Offices Attending: Peter Gooch Independent Chair Brett McGuin Biffa West Sussex Ltd, Community Liaison (Minutes) Andy Burgess Biffa West Sussex Ltd, General Manager - MBT Lee Coulson Biffa Waste Services Ltd, Landfill Manager James Stewart-Irvine Biffa Waste Services Ltd, Planning Manager - South Cllr Liz Kitchen WSCC/HDC Graham Harris WSCC Waste Gareth Rollings WSCC Waste (joining WSCC 22/8/16) Adam Dracott HDC Environmental Health Paul Bellringer Local resident (Horsham in Bloom) Cllr David Searle North Horsham Parish Council Steve Lipscombe Local resident Geoff Read Warnham Parish Council Brian Johnson Langhurst Wood Road residents group Eileen Lawes Local resident, LHWR north Brian Johnson Resident; Langhurst wood road residents group Roland Knight Local Resident Apologies: Mark Emery, Environment Agency. Andy Thorne, WSCC Waste. Debbie Wiltshire, Fisher Pharmaceuticals. Absent: Sam Dumbrell, WSCC Planning Action points are noted in bold Item 1. INTRODUCTIONS All attending introduced themselves. Gareth Rollings introduced himself as the Contract Manager who will be dealing with the MRMC when he joins the County Council on 22 August 2016 from Arun District Council. 2. APOLOGIES / SUBSTITUTIONS Debbie Wiltshire was substitute for Jeff Nixon but sent her apologies. Mark Emery sent a written E.A update as discussed.

2 3. REVIEW OF MINUTES AND ACTIONS FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS The minutes were reviewed and agreed. The actions from the previous meeting were discussed: B.M to amend the notes from the previous meeting and re-send them to the group J.S-I will update the group once a decision on the planning application is issued. Decision not yet made B.J will update the group again regarding LHWR speed limit at the next meeting. B.J explained that he had a letter from WSCC Highways who stated that the road will not be changed to 30mph (unless new information causes this to be reviewed). L.C will provide the volume of soils remaining to enter the landfill it at the next meeting L.C will update the group on the outcome of the litter picking discussion at the next meeting. A.T to send the link to the forward plan and decision report pages to the liaison group before the next meeting. P.G to share findings regarding who is best to attend liaison meetings from HDC at the next meeting P.G had spoken to Roy Cornell regarding his future attendance to replace A.D. A.D attended from HDC; continued attendance from HDC - TBC J.S-I will liaise with S.D regarding the B.C incineration planning application and feedback No application has been entered so far complete Following the information regarding the speed limit change the issue of litter picking was discussed amongst the group. L.C details his meeting with Biffa SHEQ coach regarding the issue of litter. The SHEQ coach stated that without a verge of >1metre OR a reduced speed limit Biffa cannot conduct litter picking on the section of LHWR south of the site entrance to the A264.. L.K asks A.B & L.C if the rule is legal or a Biffa internal rule. L.C replies stating that he would not feel comfortable sending staff on to a 40mph road with no verge to litter pick. He continued a risk assessment of the task would highlight these concerns. G.Ro outlined his current experience with litter picking on the highway, confirming that that there are health and safety issues that can preclude litter picking in some circumstances. AB/LC to obtain confirmation whether the reasoning is Biffa or legal and inform L.K and the Group

3 AD to consult with colleagues at HDC to establish HDC policy on litter picking at Langhustwood Road and similar locations and report back to the Group. B.J to share a copy of the letter received from WSCC highways regarding speed limit change P.G to contact WSCC about litter picking the southern section of LHWR 4. LANDFILL OPERATIONS UPDATE L.C gave an update on the landfill site which included photographs. Since the last meeting 116,776 tonnes of waste and restoration/engineering soils have been received on site. Operations are continuing in cell 6, with waste infilling expected to be complete in April 2017 and capping and interim restoration completed in 2018/2019. A void survey was completed with the results expected in the coming weeks L.C to circulate the void survey results The leachate system is working well and currently discharging around 100m 3 per day. This has reduced significantly owing to the recent warm and dry weather. Gas production from the site is now at 2100m 3 /h 20 new gas wells (5 deep and 15 shallow) have been installed on the landfill site to capture all available gas being produced Aggregate treatment recycling facility (ATRF) is running well. Throughput is currently 33 tonnes per hour 5 days a week. 71% of incoming material is being recycled, and 28% is being diverted from landfill. Sand is being sold back to market for block paving and aggregate is being used as drainage material on site. The ATRF was short listed in the Efficiency Improvement category at the 2016 National Recycling Awards. The landfill facility has received 2 complaints since the previous meeting. One regarding flying birds around the area, and the other regarding plant reversing alarms. The landfill team are working with the E.A to manage seagull populations and to restrict them from landing on the surface. The reversing alarms have been changed to variable decibel alarms, but cannot be removed due to health and safety reasons. B.J enquires about the soil that is being stock-piled on the landfill. L.C explains the soil capping process and the different soils needed at different levels i.e. >10mm particle size as a base layer to stop the liner sheets getting torn. E.L states she is dissatisfied with the new tree planting structure along LHWR. E.L continues that she would have liked more conifer trees to make sure the landfill it not visible year round. E.L also raised an issue at the current size of the planted saplings. J.S-I replies that the trees that were planted were decided by an arboriculture report and in consultation with WSCC. The trees are additional to the requirements of the planning permission. J.S-I states this is the first time he has heard there is a problem, but J.S-I agreed to speak to the arboriculture consultant and discuss further with E.L. before the next meeting. JS-I explains the new planning application that has been submitted. The application includes the installation of who new carbon vessels in the existing gas management compound. These will clean the extracted landfill gas more efficiently than the current system. The application is currently available for public consultation.

4 B.J states that the soil lorries are the loudest, and he has noted them potentially exceeding LHWR speed limits. L.C to speak to Penfold Verrall management team about this claim and request their compliance with local speed limits. 5. MBT UPDATE A.B gave an update on the MBT facility. This included the following information: Ramp up continues: Seeded fourth digester in May, is now giving good gas yields Waste inputs (in Qr1) Gas production increasing steadily, we re now producing over 2MW/h. The facility is coping well with the increase waste throughput, giving over 85% operational availability. BWS has received 3 complaints since the last meeting. Each complaint was followed up in accordance with the complaints procedure. A.B discussed the complaints which all related to odour. B.J Enquired further about the odour complaint. He stated that he (and Peter Rice) have noticed an odour since the last meeting. B.J continues that the odour was similar to the organic residue found at the ATRF and at the MBT AD farm. L.C and B.M to investigate organic odour at respective operational areas. A.B explains that odour issues can only be investigated and mitigated against at the time of odour escape. So asked anyone noticing odour to call our 24/7 number to report odour to site staff at the MBT. 24h number is: B.J asks about Landfill diversion rates from the MBT. A.B states currently landfill diversion is approximately 20-25%. 6. ENVIRONMENT AGENCY UPDATE B.M received update via from Mark Emery; as discussed at the previous meeting. Find EA update below: Brookhurst Wood MBT The planned annual audit of the MBT plant will now take place in September Since the time of the last the meeting the Environment Agency has not received any reports or complaints related to the site. Brookhurst Wood Landfill Since the time of the last meeting the Environment Agency received two incident reports concerning the Landfill. One was about noise (in particular the white noise beeper on the compactor), the other was about Seagulls. Following the seagull report, The Environment Agency has worked closely with Biffa who have agreed to take additional steps to reduce the risk of birds landing on the waste. Following the noise report, Biffa agreed to discuss this issue with the site operatives to ensure they continue to be mindful of the local community. Since the last noise complaint that the Environment Agency received in 2015, Biffa installed a variable decibel white noise beeper. Other operational improvements were also put in place. However, Biffa have advised the Environment Agency that they are required to use white noise beepers on site due

5 to their planning requirements 7. WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL WASTES MANAGEMENT UPDATE G.H gave an update for WSCC Waste Management: At the last Liaison Group meeting A.T outlined how the Authority is reviewing both its existing waste contracts and waste strategy. A.T provided links after that meeting for Liaison Group Members to view the Forward Plan of Key Decisions and the Current Year Cabinet Member Decision Reports. G.H updated that the Authority s internal review was complete and that the Authority is finalising discussions with Biffa ahead of the Member Decision. Whilst the current Forward Plan indicates a July 2016 decision, this will slip to August. G.H corrected the reference in the last minutes to the Cabinet Member for Cabinet Resources which should have read Cabinet Member for Residents Services B.J enquires about RDF contract progression and asks if the offered documents will contain any reference to RDF procurement. G.H replies, with reference to the Forward Plan entry that the Decision and the further Decisions will cover a range of material streams. GH to arrange for the Liaison Group to be informed when a Decision can be viewed via the link to the Current Year Cabinet Member Decision Reports. 8. AOB All who attended the site tour of the ATRF thanked L.C The next meeting date will be Wednesday 19 th October 2016 at 17:30pm. Actions A.B/L.C to obtain confirmation if the Biffa cannot litter pick is legal or Biffa policy and feedback before the next meeting. AD to consult with colleagues at HDC to establish HDC policy on litter picking at Langhustwood Road and similar locations and report back to the Group. L.C to circulate the landfill void survey results J.S-I agreed to speak to the arboriculture consultant and discuss further with E.L. before the next meeting. L.C to speak to Penfold Verrall management team about this claim and request their compliance with local speed limits.

6 L.C and B.M to investigate organic odour at respective operational areas. B.M to circulate 24h complaints handling number to group ( ). GH to arrange for the Liaison Group to be informed when a Decision can be viewed via the link to the Current Year Cabinet Member Decision Reports. B.J to share a copy of the letter received from WSCC highways regarding speed limit change. P.G to contact WSCC about litter picking the southern section of LHWR.