Listed below are previous updates:
The County Council's Development Control Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, 24 (and may be continued on Thursday, 25) October 2012 to make a decision on Veolia's planning application to build an incinerator at New Barnfield.
Residents and supporters are urged to assemble outside County Hall, Hertford at 09:15 on Wednesday, 24 October 2012 (and Thursday, if it runs over and you are able to make both days).
Afterwards you will be able to attend the meeting in the public gallery (but will not be able to speak).
You may also wish to lobby your local councillor / s to make your wishes known beforehand – particularly as there are local elections early next year, and some of them will be seeking re-election. However, members on the committee will not be able to express a view as, under the rules (bizarre as they may seem), that would exclude them from taking part.
Please note: three 72-seater Routemaster buses have been arranged to provide a free bus service to County Hall on Wednesday.
Buses will pick up passengers from:
1. Memorial Hall, Welham Green at 08:15 (8.15 am)
2. Bus stop at Travellers Lane near South Way roundabout, opposite Millwards estate at 08:30 (8.30 am)
3. Bus stop outside Gracemead House, Hatfield Town Centre at 08:35 (8.35 am).
Buses will leave County Hall at 13:00 (1 pm) with the same stops for the return journey (If you want to leave earlier or later, you will need to use public transport or arrange a lift in a car).
To book a seat on the free bus service please contact Peter on 01707 276066 as soon as possible.
Alternatively, there are public buses between Hatfield and Hertford (Routes 341, 641 and 724).
Leaflets about the 24 October meeting are being printed and in the next few weeks they will be delivered to homes in Hatfield, Welham Green, Brookmans Park and Colney Heath.
If you are able to help deliver these leaflets, particularly in central Hatfield, please contact Hatfield Against Incineration as soon as possible (email address below).
The leaflets will be counted out in rounds, with a list of the streets on the top.
A round is between 100 and 200 homes. 100 can usually be done in less than an hour.
The closing date for objections against Veolia's third tranche of additional information ended on Wednesday, 26 September.
We are now entering the closing stages of the planning process with HCC's Development and Control Committee meeting on Wednesday, 24 October to make a final decision whether to approve Veolia's planning application for an incinerator at New Barnfield or not.
It is important to let councillors know how important an issue this is to people (particularly as some of them will be standing for re-election next year). And as some of us have already seen, sad to say, not all of our elected representatives are championing the interests of their electorate.
Even if they are contemptuous enough to disregard the wishes of the people this is not the end of the fight, merely the end of the opening skirmish.
HAI committee members are confident that there are serious flaws in the plans and process (apart from it obviously flying in the face of common sense – as our local MP and Conservative party co-chairman Grant Shapps has publicly said before it is "madness" to situate it next to a heavily built up residential area), and that there are valid grounds to get HCC's decision overturned if they opt for an incinerator.
Finally, there is also the possibility of resorting to a judicial review as a further fall back position.
Hopefully, the politicians involved will see sense – if for no better reason than to save their own electoral skins. But people need to make it clear to them that there will be a price to pay. Otherwise they may see this as the easiest option and try and force it through. Knowing full well that anywhere else people will fight tooth and nail to keep it out.
Veolia and their consultants URS have supplied a third set of further information (The main Planning Application consultation ran up to January 2012 – with 6000 objections sent in. This was followed by two further sets of information, which were consulted on in May-June and June-July 2012, with further objections being sent in).
Please note: it is essential that people file objections to each additional set of information supplied otherwise it is more than likely that Veolia will claim that the additional information they have supplied has satisfied earlier objections.
The latest batch of further information mainly concerns:
The period of greatest change in the number of HGVs approaching the site would be between 10:00 - 11:00.
– On the access road going in front of Southfield School there would be an increase from 25 to 52 vehicle movements and from 0 to 44 HGV movements.
– On the section of Travellers Lane leading to the site, there would be a change from 42 to 87 HGV movements.
– On South Way there would be an increase from 81 to 123 HGV movements.
There are more figures for other hours of the day.
Possible grounds for objections:
This volume of HGV traffic, going past a school for children with special needs, and past residents’ homes, unacceptable because of noise, fumes, danger, intimidation and fear (to pedestrians, cyclists and other road users), and traffic congestion.
There would be increases in the deposition of chemicals well above the recommended maximum on a very large number of wildlife sites, local nature reserves and ancient woodland in a wide area surrounding the proposed incinerator. For example the total acid deposition at Oxleys Wood Nature Reserve (adjoining Millwards Recreation Ground in South Hatfield) would be 177% of the recommended maximum (Many of the wildlife sites already have high levels of chemicals deposited on them – this must not be made worse).
Possible grounds for objections:
Threat to wildlife – including historic trees in Hatfield Park, and to young children using these public areas.
There are also letters from Veolia contractors, URS, disputing the impact on Hatfield House and Park, and on Southfield School.
If you want to see all the further information supplied:
Go to HCC website www.hertsdirect.org.uk
Use the Search box to go to the 'New Barnfield planning' section
[or this URL:
http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/envplan/plan/planningapps/nbplanapp/
]
Click on 'Further information' in the menu on the left, then on 'Further information Sept 2012'.
Or, you can view hard copies of this information in local public libraries, including New Barnfield Library Resources Centre (which is expected to close in November, to clear the site for the incinerator).
Objections can be sent by email to: newbarnfieldplanning@hertscc.gov.uk
Or mail to: New Barnfield Planning, County Hall, Pegs Lane, HERTFORD, SG13 8DN
The County Council's Development Control Committee is provisionally scheduled to meet on Wednesday, 24 and Thursday, 25 October 2012 to make a decision on Veolia's planning application to build an incinerator at New Barnfield.
Residents and supporters are urged to assemble outside County Hall, Hertford at 09:15 on Wednesday, 24 October 2012 (and Thursday, if you are able to make both days).
Afterwards you will be able to attend the meeting in the public gallery (but will not be able to speak).
You may also wish to lobby your local councillor / s to make your wishes known beforehand – particularly as there are local elections early next year, and some of them will be seeking re-election. However, members on the committee will not be able to express a view as, under the rules (bizarre as they may seem), that would exclude them from taking part.
--------------------------------
As part of the campaign against HCC's planned incinerator at New Barnfield, two public meetings were held on 4 and 12 September 2012 at Welham Green and Hatfield respectively. The packed meetings heard HAI speakers Simon Archer, Cathy Roe and Paul Zukowskyj review the reasons to oppose the incinerator – including damage to the green belt, visual intrusion, damage to heritage, health impacts, climate change impacts and, of course, the awful impacts that the kids with special needs would suffer in the specially designed school that sits directly in the shadow of this proposed monstrosity.
Attendees were urged to gather outside County Hall before the Development Control Committee meeting, which would decide on Veolia's incinerator planning application (details in the Planned Activities box above).
However, it was made clear that even if HCC ruled in favour of their chosen contractor's application it would be far from being a done deal. As it would be 'called' in by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), and the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, would rule on it. Local MP (and recently promoted to cabinet) Grant Shapps has already written with his objections to the scheme and voters cannot be blamed for expecting that his elevated position within the Conservative Party will have some tangible benefit. IF that fails there is still a judicial review to fall back on.
There are unconfirmed reports that ground stability testing at the New Barnfield site revealed that the chalk underneath was fractured. This does not necessarily prevent the site from being developed as cavities could be filled with 'grout', and Paul Zukowskyj said it was not a particularly expensive thing to do (although it would depend on the size of the cavities). However, that would affect the hydro-geology of the area with the prospect of it impacting on a site of special scientific interest (SSSI); namely, the Water End Swallow Holes (which would rule the site out).
On their website, English Nature, describes them as "the only major sinkholes in chalk which are a permanent feature of the landscape, and they constitute the drainage outlet for the largest enclosed karstic basin in England. The site covers a group of more than 15 sinkholes where two streams drain from the London Clay and sink very close to the boundary of the outcrop of the chalk." [a 'karst' being a term applied to an area where the rock has dissolved and ground water drains away in channels or conduits]
However, a poster on the Brookmans Park Forum has since pointed out that these are fed by the Mimmshall Brook. Still this clearly is an area which has cost and other implications and may help tip the balance in favour of sinking this much loathed HCC project.
Curiously, a letter from Veolia-contractors, URS, to County Hall's planning team (published on the HCC site) disputes the impact on Hatfield House and Park. Curiously because there are already indications that there are elevated levels of acidity (largely due to the high volumes of road traffic in the area) being deposited on nature sites in the area. Also, Veolia acknowledged (in the Community Engagement Group minutes) that there have been a number of instances where there have been malfunctions which have resulted in the uncontrolled release of toxins to the environment. It stands to reason that, therefore, they cannot guarantee there will not be a single toxic release with disastrous consequences for the ancient trees in Hatfield Park and the diverse specimens in the arboretum in the gardens of Hatfield House (not forgetting people in the area but it seems the impact on people's health is less important in planning terms).
Finally, it is notable (and laudable) that HCC Councillor Steven Markiewicz (Conservative, Welwyn Garden City South) took the trouble to attend the meeting at the Jim MacDonald Centre.
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