Since my last post about the noise decision reached by EDDC Development Management Committee on 21 September, I have been looking more closely at the documents involved.
As posted to the EDDC website, the important ones are as follows:
1. The Committee papers. This is a great wodge of collected documents handed out at the start of the meeting. Committee members get them earlier so that they can study them. This is where the EDDC Environmental health officers recommend a time limit for pipeline operation.
2. The Minutes. These are quite short and cover who was there and who had a conflict of interest. There are no details about what was said: instead, we are referred to the Schedule.
3. The Schedule. This records the decisions reached.
This seems quite reasonable until you look in detail at the decisions as described in the schedule . They include an enormous amount of technical detail - far more than was mentioned at the meeting. Paragraph 6 dealing with pipeline noise was quoted in the last post, and mentions the specific addresses likely to experience noise. I am quite ccertain that this was not mentioned during the meeting.
Clearly, what has happened is that someone took preliminary minutes during the meeting and then passed these over to the planning officer, who fleshed them out with all appropriate detail. In the process, they seem to have left out something - namely, the restriction on operating hours.
As promised, I have written to Paul Diviani, the Chair of the Committee for further information. In the meantime, I would like to hear from anyone else who was at the 21 September meeting and remembers anything about the pipeline noise decision . . . for example, the residents of Trevelyan Road ?
31 October 2010
29 October 2010
Pipeline Noise is back again
There is bad news for residents of Harbour and Trevelyan Roads in Seaton. Pipeline noise will be 24/7 after all.
At the Tesco planning meeting on 21 September the committee papers included a recommendation from EDDC Environmental Health officers that the pipeline should be insulated against noise, and the hours of operation restricted to exclude the hours between 11pm and 7 am. As I remember the discussion, this restriction was agreed, yet the Decision Notice makes no mention of it.
I asked EDDC if the discussion was minuted, but it is not: they record only decisions taken, and this record makes no mention of any time restriction. I did not take detailed notes myself, so I cannot be sure that my recollection is accurate. I have written to the Committee Chairman, Paul Diviani, but he hears so many cases I should be surprised if he remembers anything at all.
So, what lies in store for Seaton residents near the pipe ? The Decision Notice paragraph 6 is as follows:
The pipeline shall be enclosed at all places where noise generated during the movement of material within it is likely to be clearly audible at the facade of nearby residential properties. Prior to the commencement of filling operations the noise levels (during the day and at night time) at the facade of those properties namely nos. 1-8 Trevelyan Road, Bay View, 66 & 68 Harbour Road,113-115 Harbour Road and Bridge Cottage shall be submitted to and agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority. The filling operation shall not exceed the noise levels so agreed. (Reason - To protect the amenities of local residents.)
This seems to mean that the pipeline cannot make more noise than the residents experience at any time of the day, or night. But it also means that daytime noise levels can occur at any hour, including the middle of the night.
The other aspect is enforcement. What happens if noise levels are higher ? How will we know? Will we have to measure noise levels at 2 am before complaining to Environmental Health? And what will they do about it ? Do they have a ship-to-shore link to the dredger out in the bay so that they can tell them to stop the discharge?
I advise the residents referred to above to get together with Janet Wallace of the EDDC EHO team to discuss and agree these procedures well before discharge starts in the New Year.
Incidently, those of you with iPhones, there are several applications to measure noise levels.
At the Tesco planning meeting on 21 September the committee papers included a recommendation from EDDC Environmental Health officers that the pipeline should be insulated against noise, and the hours of operation restricted to exclude the hours between 11pm and 7 am. As I remember the discussion, this restriction was agreed, yet the Decision Notice makes no mention of it.
I asked EDDC if the discussion was minuted, but it is not: they record only decisions taken, and this record makes no mention of any time restriction. I did not take detailed notes myself, so I cannot be sure that my recollection is accurate. I have written to the Committee Chairman, Paul Diviani, but he hears so many cases I should be surprised if he remembers anything at all.
So, what lies in store for Seaton residents near the pipe ? The Decision Notice paragraph 6 is as follows:
The pipeline shall be enclosed at all places where noise generated during the movement of material within it is likely to be clearly audible at the facade of nearby residential properties. Prior to the commencement of filling operations the noise levels (during the day and at night time) at the facade of those properties namely nos. 1-8 Trevelyan Road, Bay View, 66 & 68 Harbour Road,113-115 Harbour Road and Bridge Cottage shall be submitted to and agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority. The filling operation shall not exceed the noise levels so agreed. (Reason - To protect the amenities of local residents.)
This seems to mean that the pipeline cannot make more noise than the residents experience at any time of the day, or night. But it also means that daytime noise levels can occur at any hour, including the middle of the night.
The other aspect is enforcement. What happens if noise levels are higher ? How will we know? Will we have to measure noise levels at 2 am before complaining to Environmental Health? And what will they do about it ? Do they have a ship-to-shore link to the dredger out in the bay so that they can tell them to stop the discharge?
I advise the residents referred to above to get together with Janet Wallace of the EDDC EHO team to discuss and agree these procedures well before discharge starts in the New Year.
Incidently, those of you with iPhones, there are several applications to measure noise levels.
11 October 2010
Progress Report
My thanks to those of you who have made comments, two of which have been added to the post below this one. For the moment, I will go on with my report, but further comments are welcome.
I had a reply to my Freedom of Information request to the Environment Agency; but it was incomplete - consisting of a few emails of peripheral interest. I have formulated a more rigorous request; but have been baffled by the EA email system. Replies to the sender of the information have bounced back twice, and I could not get anyone there to explain why. I shall therefore put in another completely separate request.
My complaint to East Devon has also been delayed. I had intended sending it from the group, but quailed at the level of consultation involved; so it has gone in under my own name. I will report when I hear something.
In the meantime, we had a visit from a Norwegian journalist who is doing a feature on Tesco. I don't read Norwegian, so I don't know what he will make of our situation - if he mentions it at all. Any Scandanavian linguists reading this blog should let me have their contact details and I will send the name of the publication concerned.
I had a reply to my Freedom of Information request to the Environment Agency; but it was incomplete - consisting of a few emails of peripheral interest. I have formulated a more rigorous request; but have been baffled by the EA email system. Replies to the sender of the information have bounced back twice, and I could not get anyone there to explain why. I shall therefore put in another completely separate request.
In the meantime, we had a visit from a Norwegian journalist who is doing a feature on Tesco. I don't read Norwegian, so I don't know what he will make of our situation - if he mentions it at all. Any Scandanavian linguists reading this blog should let me have their contact details and I will send the name of the publication concerned.
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