Minutes of Leven parish council meeting held on Tuesday, 7 March 2017 at 7.15pm in the school.
Present: Mrs Ablett (chair), D Gillyon-Powell, S Nicholson, S Mathison, K Macklin, M Hilton,
R Gibson, R Southwell, Cllr Pollard, residents of the village
16-17/137 Apologies: M Gillyon-Powell, J Bird
The clerk advised the parish council that Cllr McGee had resigned and that notices had been placed in the noticeboards showing that there was now a vacancy.
16-17/138 Declaration of interest in matters arising both pecuniary and non-pecuniary: none
16-17/139 Minutes of the last meeting: The minutes of the last meeting were approved, K Macklin proposed, D Gillyon-Powell seconded and all were in favour of them being signed as a true record.
16-17/140 Clerk’s report:
First aid course: The clerk is struggling to get any response from St Johns Ambulance to either emails sent or telephone calls made. R Gibson advised that British Heart Foundation hold courses and other companies also. The clerk is to make further enquiries.
Litter – Beverley Road/South Street: Street cleansing, ERYC have been out and litter picked.
Allotments: A poster had been put up in the noticeboard advertising plots that were available. These have now all been filled.
Graham Stuart, MP open surgery: Mr Stuart held an open surgery in the recreation hall which was well supported approximately 50 people attended and various topics were discussed. Our thanks to Graham Stuart MP for attending.
16-17/141 Correspondence:
February 22 ERYC Village Taskforce Walkabouts 2017/18
February 23 ERYC Routh Windfarm Community Fund
February 24 ERYC Changes to planning application publicity
February 28 ERYC ERYC Community Transport Strategy
March 1 Clerks & Councils Direct Newsletter
March 2 Edd McGee Letter of resignation
The correspondence regarding the changes to planning application publicity was discussed. There was some confusion as to whether the ‘yellow notices’ would be put up for all applications or just ones that planning felt necessary as is the case now. Cllr Pollard to speak to Stephen Hunt, ERYC and get back to the clerk. The idea now is for residents to keep check on planning applications in their area by registering on the ERYC website under the planning portal and looking to see on a regular basis. This penalises residents who do not have the use of computers.
Cllr Pollard – ERYC matters:
Footpath – Heron Lakes to Whitecross roundabout: this matter had previously been brought up regarding who is responsible for the sweeping of the footpaths. J Bird had previously stated that he cuts his hedges but after speaking to ERYC was told that if he cleared the cuttings away he would be responsible/liable for any damage to the footpath/cycle track, therefore he would not be clearing the cuttings away. Cyclists are getting punctures in their tyres – one resident in the village has reported that he has had four. Cllr Pollard to chase up and report back.
Roadside memorials: S Mathison asked the question as to what was ERYC’s policy on roadside memorials. Some of the memorials had been there for several years and can be distracting for motorists. Cllr Pollard to enquire and let the clerk know the policy.
Road signs: R Southwell reported that road signs across the East Riding are looking dirty and need to be cleaned as some are now hard to read.
Planning: D Gillyon-Powell asked Cllr Pollard why we have no support with planning applications due to Cllr Pollard being chair of the planning committee. Cllr Pollard advised that she will always try to look after the interests of the parish council and the village but planning application decisions do not always go the way that the village and parish council want. The parish council can always write to
Cllr Pollard and email but cannot speak to Cllr Pollard to get advice. Cllr Pollard further advised that although planning applications are allocated to one case officer, other officers will be looking at it too. A vast amount of consultation goes on behind the scenes. Discussions were held with regards to comments submitted and whether duplicate letters were counted as individual letters or classed as one as the parish council has been informed that the case officer is saying one thing and the planning department on another occasion has said something different. Also, there was the question over petitions as to whether they count as one signature. There have been at least three changes to the dates for when comments must be submitted by, Cllr Pollard confirmed that comments can be submitted up to the morning of the planning committee meeting. Cllr Pollard advised that a senior planning officer would come out to a parish council meeting to talk about how the planning system works and would arrange this for the parish council if desired.
D Gillyon-Powell thanked Cllr Pollard for attending the meeting. Cllr Pollard left the meeting at 8.10pm.
16-17/142 Planning decisions: none
16-17/143 Treasurer’s report:
Autela Payroll £ 32.85 Quarterly payroll fees
Garry Lee £ 60.00 Maintenance – Jubilee Garden
Leven Recreation Hall £ 36.00 Room hire
HART (medibus) £ 400.00 Donation
S L Woolfitt £ 383.72 March salary and expenses
A E Dawson £ 151.20 March salary
S Nicholson proposed, K Macklin seconded and all were in favour of the above payments being made.
16-17/144 Financial matters:
CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau): A request had been received from CAB for funding. Discussions were held and K Macklin proposed, S Mathison seconded and all were in favour to not support the request.
HART: A request from HART had been received asking for a donation to help with the running of the minibus and medibus. HART provides an invaluable service to the residents of Leven and surrounding villages. S Mathison proposed, S Nicholson seconded and all were in favour of a donation of £400 being made.
16-17/145 Parish paths partnership:
K Macklin advised that he had requested a grant from ERYC for £1200 to carry out the cutting of the Public Rights of Way. This would allow for four cuts of all the paths and bridleways. Garden and Tree Services have been awarded the contract and K Macklin will arrange a schedule of dates and these will be put up in the parish council noticeboards and on the parish council website levenparishcouncil.eastriding.gov.uk. Notification has been received from ERYC that the Parish Paths Partnership grant will end 31 March 2018 and the grass cutting will be taken ‘back in house’. If the parish council are to continue with cutting the grass this must be paid for by the parish council and put onto the precept.
16-17/146 First aid course and defibrillators: The clerk has tried to contact St.John’s Ambulance by email and telephone but is getting no response. R Gibson suggested the clerk contact British Heart Foundation as they carry out courses. The clerk is to apply for funding through Routh Windfarm for a Community Access Defibrillator and the cost of holding a first aid course in the village for residents.
16-17/147 Representatives’ reports:
Police: It is understood that three people from outside of the village have been arrested for the burglaries that have taken place.
Playingfields Association: The annual auction takes place on Saturday, 1 April 2017.
Allotments Association: Some of the allotment plots had become available however they have now all been let. As it is the allotments 40th Anniversary this year they are wanting to place a commemorative seat on Carr Lane outside of the allotments on highways land. They are to write in and the clerk will seek permission from ERYC on their behalf.
16-17/148 General purpose matters:
Bench – Beverley Road: R Southwell commented on the amount of leaves that have gathered under the bench and asked if they could be cleared away.
16-17/149 Date of next meeting: Tuesday, 4 April 2017 at 7.15pm in the school.
M Gillyon-Powell joined the meeting at 8.40pm.
16-17/150 Planning applications received to date:
17/00446/PLF – Mr & Mrs Faulkes – erection of two storey extension to side at 11a South Parade, Leven No objections
17/00570/TCA – Mrs Couttie – Leven conservation area: Copper Beech – overall 2m crown reduction, Oak – overall 1m crown reduction, to keep the natural shape of the trees but to reduce each individual branch back to suitable growth point to reduce the overall size of the trees and control the root growth rate at 86 West Street, Leven Support the tree officer’s recommendations
17/00300/PLF – Mr & Mrs Derbyshire – Erection of single storey extension to rear following removal of existing outbuilding at 83 East Street, Leven No objections
16/03149/CM – F D Bird and Sons – erection of an Anaerobic Digester (AD) plant and associated works at land north of Yarrows Aggregates Ltd, Leven Bypass, Leven
Leven parish council very strongly objects to planning application 16/03149/CM – erection of an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant and associated works at land north of Yarrows Aggregates Ltd, Leven bypass, Leven for the following reasons:
The application does not comply with ERYC planning policy: The proposal would result in the development of an uncharacteristic large scale industrial plant and buildings in the open countryside which are not agricultural in appearance, thereby causing harm to visual amenity and landscape. The proposal does not, therefore, comply with policies ENV2 and ENV5 of the East Riding local plan Strategy Document as well as paragraph 7 bullet point 3 of National Planning Policy for Waste and paragraphs 58 of the National Planning Policy Framework. The proposal is an industrial development in the open countryside that would have a detrimental impact on residential amenity it does not therefore comply with policies W2 of the Joint Waste Local Plan and Part 4 B of policy ENV1 and policy ENV6 of the East Riding Local Plan – Strategy Document as well as paragraph 7 bullet point 3 of National Planning Policy for Waste and Bullet Point 4, Paragraph 17 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Noise/odour/visual impact: Rather than what the applicant states that “this will have no impact on the landscape”, a development of this magnitude and of the heights quoted will stand out and because of the nature of the landscape it will have a detrimental impact on the visual amenities of the area. It will be easily viewed from the bypass, Leven Road, Catwick, Long Riston and Leven. It will create an industrial development in what is an agricultural and tourism area.
Regarding the noise, by the very nature of this application there will be noise associated with this industrial process. This is open countryside and the alien industrial noise will carry for miles. We already have residents in Leven complaining about the crushing plant vehicle noises from the vehicles involved in the quarry and particularly when they are reversing. Odour –The applicant has already admitted that there will be unpleasant odours arising from the process in the application from both the delivery and the storage of feedstock, as well as the digestate stored in the lagoons. As soon as the open lagoons are disturbed there will be obnoxious smells coming from them. Once these plants are up and running the stench created by them is obnoxious and why should residents have to live with the fact that they cannot go out into their gardens or the local area and therefore be unable to enjoy the fresh air around them and the open countryside.
Transport: The applicant states that the deliveries of feedstock will be taken from a 30 mile radius which would include the Hull Docks and beyond. Most of the roads in this area are single carriageway apart from the short section of Leven bypass. Any vehicles delivering the feedstocks from the Hull and Beverley direction would have to travel down to the roundabout at Catwick then double back on themselves to access the site. This is already a well-used busy road leading to coastal areas which carries a large amount of traffic within the holiday periods together with commuter traffic and heavy goods vehicles. The Leven bypass was designed never to have traffic accessing it from the adjacent land. It is only the fact that gravel is classed as a national asset that the Yarrows entrance was given temporary permission until 23 July 2024 at which point it must cease and be re-instated to greenfield. Slow moving HGVs going in and out of the site on the ratios quoted would create even more of a hazard to the existing road users travelling at 60 mph. The A1035 is our only main road to Beverley and Bridlington and is often closed due to accidents at White Cross. The increased number of 28 tonne vehicles will create an even greater risk of more accidents and road closures.
Hazards: It is a well-documented fact that there are numerous accidents, large and small, associated with these plants both in the UK and on the continent. Harper Adams University being an example. Due to the number of incidents that have occurred at that plant they have decommissioned it rather than putting people and the environment at risk any further. Documented evidence when mishaps happen at these plants show that waterways and land is badly polluted and poisoned. There is a major gas pipe that runs through this site and there must be a statutory leeway either side of it for safety reasons. A lot of the residents remember the Flixborough disaster and what devastating effect that had on the area and people’s lives. There is also a need for propane storage in the application which we assume is to bring any generated gas up to a certain standard to go into the main pipeline. This is a huge potential hazard together with the flare stack indicated on the plans. The positioning and height of the flare stack as shown on the plans would interfere with the Linley Hill airfield flight path and force aircraft to fly over Leven. It is only because of this airfield that the residents of Leven have derived the benefit of military aircraft no longer flying directly over the village. Other hazards include a bridleway passing through the site and a petrol station adjacent to the site also.
Tourism: The East Riding of Yorkshire Council has over several years actively encouraged tourism to the area hence the developments of numerous holiday and caravan parks in and around Leven, Brandesburton, Routh and Hornsea. An industrial development of this nature would have a devastating effect on them. Many people in this area are employed in the tourism industry.
Residential areas: The proximity of an industrial development of this nature will have a detrimental effect to the residential amenities. As stated in the planning application DC/15/02870 notice of decision, the application being refused, ‘the closest settlements to the proposed development are villages approximately 0.85km to the south east - Beeford, 1.25km to the south west – North Frodingham and 1.45km to the north west – Foston on the Wolds. All are separated from the proposal by relatively open arable land. The associated traffic generation to transport feedstock to and digestate from the site as well as the close proximity of the proposal to the previously mentioned settlements would have a detrimental impact on their amenity and result in serious concerns to these residents and the wider community about the safety of their anaerobic digestion process as well as the disruption to peace and quiet one would expect within their own home and as residents go about their daily life. These villages all compare to the proximity of Leven 0.82km, Catwick 1.4km and Long Riston 1.5km and therefore the application should be refused for this reason. In the new ERYC Local Development Plan to 2025, Leven as a settlement has had to take 210 new houses on land less that 600m away from this proposed AD plant. Significant visual impact of the proposal would be experienced by residents, adjacent settlements, road users and the public rights of way. This is an uncharacteristic large scale industrial plant and buildings in the open countryside. It is not agricultural in appearance and will cause harm to the visual amenities and the landscape.
How green is green energy: When you must grow a substantial amount of the feedstock to be used at the AD together with the transport of shipping the materials in, this is not a green development and neither is it sustainable. Everyone in the country is subsidising such a development with the green levy.
M Gillyon-Powell proposed, S Nicholson seconded and all of Leven Parish Council members who attended the meeting very strongly objected to the planning application.
16-17/151 Confidential item
As there was no further business the meeting closed at 9.36pm