Marsh Lane Watch
Slight odour say three on a scale of 1-10 at flint wall on Wednesday and Thursday but not at the village.
Meeting with CDC rural housing enabling officer to discuss his proposed presentation at NMPC on February 2 on assessing need for social housing at North Mundham. Our housing register indicates 81 people with local connection who wish to move to or within the parish. Next stage is to get confirmation by means of a housing needs survey. Last one done almost six years ago and no longer current. Depending on the results, the next stage, working with the parish and RSL HydeMartlet, would be to identify a site and plan a small development. Also at the meeting, crucially, was the chairman of MARRA, Mundham and Runcton Residents Association. This sounds like a useful initiative.
Took a call from a resident. She had seen a notice distributed by MARRA re the proposed anaerobic digester (see AD Reflections) and did I know anything about it? What does it take to get people's attention. I had given it top billing in my December Focus which she had seen, it had been in the Chichester Observer, front page about the same time, I have been writing about it on this site since I don't know when. She said she doesn't look at the internet much. The time is coming when not to be on line is to be out of touch.
Full Council. I raised two questions, one of the leader about the status of the Grange Centre in light of WSCC's decision not to relocate its day care centre to the new facility, the other of the chairman on our failure as a district and indeed as a county to secure hardly any gongs in the New Year Honours. I am not much in favour of honours as they can be socially divisive but for some people they can be highly motivating especially for people in fairly modest occupations who have done sterling service to the community for many years.
In the morning there was a members workshop on proposed changes to governance and accountability within the Council. These will streamline decision making and get more member involvement and increase the activities of the scrutiny function to make it more responsive and effective.
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Oving Parish Council meeting to decide its response to WSCC/88/09/NM. A rather noisy meeting with residents of both Oving and North Mundham anxious to get their word in. OPC decided to object and had prepared some well thought out reasons. We were alarmed earlier to hear that the vice chairman of the parish council had had a heart attack the previous day and was in hospital waiting for an operation. We wish him well. I've been there.
Formally withdrew 'red card' in respect of anaerobic digester application because of a personal interest. Advised to do so by district solicitor. Asked another Councillor to submit one in my place which he did.
Members visit to PHG at invitation of the director. Most interesting tour of the gallery and its highly impressive exhibits and wide ranging community outreach. We are most fortunate to have such a well regarded and dynamic gallery in our midst. It's highly deserving of our financial support as is the theatre.
Meeting of CHSG's Full Governing Body. Head Teacher mentioned her frustration at County's inability to provide grit for the school site that would have enabled her to keep the school open. Parents were able to get their children there.
Community Action Project for Tangmere, Boxgrove and Oving dissolved in light of overlap with other organisations, especially the parish councils and recently formed neighbourhood management panel. Also because a major community project at Spitfire Court, Tangmere had been completed. Good for them. Killing off no longer needed organisations is something no one is very good at.
Meeting with Dr Clare Lukehurst, at Langmead Farms head office at Ham Farm, Bosham to get answers to questions on the proposed anaerobic plant at Runcton. Dr Lukehurst is an independent consultant appointed by the British Government to the Internal Energy Agency Bioenergy whose purpose is to promote the use of bioenergy among member countries. She was very knowledgeable and the meeting was worthwhile. MARRA and NMPC chairmen and Oving PC had separate meetings which they too found useful.
Meeting of Policy Development Committee which I chair. Interesting annual reports from chief executive of CFT and director of PHG. Only other interesting issue was member's issue on the impact of the snow on services and any lessons to be learned for the future. It was reported that a meeting of West Sussex's seven first tier authorities was due to be held in the spring to undertake an assessment. In my view it was disgraceful that no side roads were gritted.
Annual meeting with parishes. Fairly boring meeting as usual because had heard much of the material before. But well attended and much interest in the presentation of the new enforcement strategy. Its inclusion on the agenda was at my suggestion.
Meeting with head of Modern and Foreign Languages Faculty at CHSG. A number of serious concerns raised that will require follow up.
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Marsh Lane Watch
Flytipping of bed, mattress and several black bags of rubbish. Reported on January 11. Will be removed Friday January 15. The lane has been more or less passable from the first day of snow, single file.
Oving Parish Council. After hearing from the same Mundham and Merston residents and myself who had addressed the NMPC on January 5, the Council decided to defer consideration of the anaerobic digester application until more Councillors were present and they had met with the AD expert Dr Clare Lukehurst on January 20. I encouraged NMPC representatives to meet her also. OPC were going to seek County's agreement to a further extension of the time limit for representations.
Submitted 'red card' to have AD plant application reviewed by DC South on grounds of its importance, public interest and possible environmental impact. The Committee only has a consultee role. County is not obliged to take account of its recommendations.
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North Mundham Parish Council vote unanimously to object to application WSCC/88/09/NM to set up an anaerobic digester plant at Walnut Tree Farm Runcton.
Some 20 residents from Marsh Lane attended the meeting along with the chairman of Mundham and Runcton Residents Asssociation, whose committee had met the previous evening to consider its position on the application.
Speakers expressed concern about the size of the plant, its occupancy of prime agricultural land, its being an industrial plant with an overt commercial objective, unrelated to horticulture, its proximity to residences, height, odour, traffic and noise.
It was noted that some two thirds of the feedstock would be grown especially for the plant, that the rest would comprise salad waste and vegetable/fruit trimmings usable as compost or as land nutrients, and that to describe the plant as landfill diversion was completely inaccurate. It was a laudable project but in the wrong place.
I reported on my findings from my visit to a German plant near Bremen (see pictures below) and described some of the means that were being considered for mitigating the concerns expressed by residents.
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Marsh Lane watch
Reported street lights out at Drayton roundabout on December 30. Back on the following evening. Quick work.
Marsh Lane resident stopped by to discuss the proposed AD plant that had him concerned. Had only just woken up to the proposal seeing WSCC notices displayed on telegraph poles. He had spoken to two others in Marsh Lane who also had not known about it. All credit to the person for going round and telling people. I was a little surprised that people didn't know about it, given I had published in Focus and on this website. Also front page article in Observer, mid December.
Visit to AD Plant near Bremen: some pictures
The two digesters 12 metres in height with a feedhopper and teleloader. The feeding takes about one hour per day.
View of the maize clamp, teleloader and one of the digesters with elevated feeder
CHP unit that generates half a megawatt of electricity and heat which is in part used to heat the digesters to the required temperature of 40 degrees celsius. Much of the heat is lost though.
This is a view of the site from a neighbour's house at about 300 metres. She didn't much like the view but I didn't think the towers were especially prominent. No odour from either the clamp or the digestate, which in any case is stored in a tank. But noise from the teleloader especially on Sunday mornings and from the farm traffic along the road by her house bringing in feedstock from outlying farms on one or two days in the summer.
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