Freemantle Councillors Formally Object to Biomass Plant

Below is the Freemantle Councillors' submission to Helius as a formal response to their consultation on their planned biomass plant in the Western Docks.

Dear Sir

We are writing as local councillors for the Freemantle Ward to put on record our formal objection to your plans for a Power Station proposed for the Western Docks.

Over recent weeks we have been inundated with correspondence from constituents objecting to the scheme and we have attended a number of packed local public meetings where residents were unanimously against the plans.

Location

The proposed site is directly opposite a residential area. Roads like Lakelands Drive and Foundry Lane are just 125m from the site. Due to the site’s close proximity to housing the proposed power plant will undoubtedly have a serious detrimental impact on the lives of local residents. Anecdotally we have been advised that your plans are already beginning to blight the area with residents struggling to sell their properties or finding that their properties are being significantly devalued.

Cllr Moulton is a governor of the local school, Freemantle Academy. Hence we know first hand from many parents in the area how they are worried about the impact of the power station on their community. The worry is that families will not want to bring up children in an area over shadowed by an enormous power station and will start to move away or not move into the area. This will have a profound knock on effect on the school.

A number of residents have asked whether other sites in the Docks have been examined; bearing in mind that the docks are an expansive area with the majority of the area sited much further away from housing. We are not aware that any alternative sites have been considered.

Size

The proposed scale of the plant is far too large and out of context with its surrounding structures. Indeed it will be the biggest building on the city skyline, dwarfing the terraced housing opposite. The chimney at 100m tall is three times the height of cranes in the docks. Its sheer size and mass is out of character with the area. It will dominate the view of those coming into the city by road or rail from the west, the residential areas across Southampton water bordering the New Forest and the 1.4m cruise ship passengers travelling up and down Southampton water. The new police building in Southern Road, that opened this year, was meant to be a landmark gateway building. However all people will see when approaching from the west will be the power station.

Some residents have suggested to us that if the power station was of a much smaller, perhaps more on the scale of the District Energy Scheme in the city centre then proposals for the site would be more acceptable. However, other concerns would need to be addressed. Observations have been made that perhaps the only reason you opted for such a large scale site of 100MW capacity was not because they planned to operate at this capacity, but felt that a more favourable result would entail if they bypassed the local planning process in order to submit to the IPC. Hence it is important that local views are not disenfranchised to effect an unfair advantage to the applicant.

Economic Impact

Neighbouring the development is the premier shopping development of West Quay with the new £150m luxury shopping development of Watermark Westquay due to open in 2013. On the waterfront is the proposed £450m development of Royal Pier by Morgan Sindell. The economic revival of Southampton will be placed in jeopardy, as developers will struggle to find tenants to occupy these premier sites with a huge eyesore dominating the surrounding skyline. Southampton is one of the most deprived urban areas in the South East and is fundamental that inward investment is secured to enable job creation in the area. There are thousands of new jobs now in jeopardy.

Design

The proposed design of the scheme is dreadful. It is functional and lacks any architectural merit. It is completely out of keeping with the Victorian terraced houses and docker cottages bordering the site or the nearby attractive 1934 Solent flour mill that greets workers and visitors entering Dock Gate 10 to the port along West Bay Road. It has been suggested that this might not be the final design. However, what guarantees are there that you will present a more appealing design and proceed to build this and not revert to the cheaper functional form already presented. Indeed can the design be changed if you get IPC approval with your current submission? What guarantees are there that you would not sell your planning approval to another company that might then proceed to develop something very different in appearance?

Pollution

A major concern of residents is the adverse impact on air quality. The area already has very low air quality with all the nearby industry and traffic. The power station will further reduce the air quality. The aim should be to improve air quality. The suggestion that it might be within particular standards, if true, does not change the fact that the air quality will be worse and this will have a heath impact on local residents. One only has to walk around the area to see the build up of soot on cars and window ledges. The city centre location is densely packed being home to thousands of people and with the local Freemantle primary school being close by. One can imagine people with asthma and other health problems will be adversely affected. To the North East of the area are the central parks of Southampton Common, a site of Special Scientific Interest with a fragile habitat with the largest population of the internationally rare great crested newt.

Noise

The power station will operate 24 hours a day and local residents will be subject to continuous noise pollution. It is not necessarily the operating noise of the facility itself but the conveyors carrying the fuel source onto the site and loading into the burners. To site it further away from houses would help alleviate its impact. This is then an argument for looking for an alternative site and/or downscaling the power station so that it doesn’t impact on the community. There is already considerable noise pollution and over many years we have had complaints from neighbours who are affected by it.

Traffic

If a power station is to be built in the docks, then all the materials should be shipped through the docks and not brought by road. When one considers that a single lorry movement equates to 30 tonnes of load then when the proposal is for 800,000 tonne capacity, then the road impact could be enormous if limits were not put in place. There are no such guarantees in the current submissions we have seen. The Millbrook roundabout and Millbrook Road West are already very congested. The link road into the city is recognised as one of the key roads in the country yet it remains the responsibility of the Council to maintain something that it can ill-afford. The new City Depot being built off Dock Gate 4 will add further traffic pressure to the area. This route is the main entry point into the city for tens of thousands of daily shoppers to West Quay and IKEA, commuters and visiting football fans. Your plans include no measures to mitigate the impact of traffic on the community. There are no suggestions to have a separate docks road off the M271. Measures like this would help should you bring materials by lorry.

Consultation

The feeling in the community is that your consultation has been flawed. Your staff have been unable to provide good quality answers to residents’ questions at drop in sessions. Very people recall receiving leaflets from you and the design of the leaflets did not attract the eye. Indeed we understand that many fliers were distributed via the free weekly Southampton Advertiser and hence any literature will have been mistaken for the usual marketing leaflets and binned. It was only when pictures of the proposed design came to light in the online consultation document that residents began to become aware of the proposal and appreciate the enormous impact it would have on the community. Letters from you have been restricted to residents associations, councillors, MPs and the like and limited effort has been made to directly engage the residents who live near by.

You have suggested in a recent press release that following the public response to your scheme that you would look again at the size of the scheme. However no detail has been forthcoming. If you intend to make material changes then you should restart the consultation. If the changes are not material then clearly they won’t address the concerns that residents have. From discussions with Southampton City Council planners they have grave concerns about the lack of detail in your submission. Despite numerous requests for more detailed specifications to expand on "not significant" they have yet to receive adequate responses. This lack of open and honest engagement is deeply concerning.

Fuel Source

We have considerable doubts that wood bio mass on this scale is sustainable. The amount of fuel proposed is enormous in comparison to the UK output of wood. Indeed from research we understand that there is no spare capacity to meet the plant’s proposed requirements. Inevitably the vast quantity of wood will be sourced from abroad. Hence the so called green credentials of this technology are dubious to say the least. The impact on carbon emissions of transporting it from around the world will be considerable. A more locally sustainable, smaller, power station using waste wood and local coppicing would surely be more environmentally friendly. What guarantees can you provide that all your wood will come from an accredited source, indefinitely? What steps have you taken to secure viable quantities of fuel?

Will food be the only fuel source or might other material be burned? What guarantees can you make in this regard? What will be the impact of burning non-virgin wood which has been treated with chemicals (paint and varnish)? Has an assessment been made of burning these complex chemical compounds?

Heat and CO2

No provision has been made to recycle the heat produced from the burning of the fuel. Nor has thought been given to the release of the CO2. Hence these by-products of the combustion are being wasted. Combined heat and power plants are now common place in large glass house nurseries around the UK such as Thanet in Kent and Isle of Wight, where the green credentials of burning fuel are well known and documented with heat used to warm the glasshouses and CO2 provided to the plants.

Whilst this is by no means an exhaustive list of arguments to oppose this application, we do consider that the concerns we have raised are real and warrant that this application be rejected. The first area that must be considered is the adequacy of consultation. We consider that this first stage has not been satisfied and you should be required to return the drawing board.

Community Benefit

Once the construction phase has ceased, which no doubt be undertaken by specialist workers from outside the city there will only be 40 jobs created by operating the plant. Hence there will be limited economic benefit to the city outside of the income earned by ABP for leasing the site and cheap power source provided. For such a major multi-million pound development, you have not offered any planning monies to benefit the local community, facilities or infrastructure improvements to the key arterial M271/Millbrook Road route into the city. This is incredibly surprising and demonstrates a complete disregard for your corporate social responsibility.

Yours faithfully

Jeremy Moulton
Brian Parnell
Michael Ball
Councillors for Freemantle Ward

Congratulations Brian!

Local councillor Brian Parnell was re-elected last night.

It was a close fought campaign in Freemantle with a higher turn out than ususal with the Alternative Vote refurendum on the same day.

Brian's re-election will mean that this new municipal year will be Brian's 25th year on Southampton City Council and his 21st for Freemantle Ward.

Well done Brian!

Vote NO to AV on 5th May

Good Luck Freemantle Academy

On Friday, Freemantle School officially became an Academy. This is fantastic news for the school and I have every confidence that with its new status and freedoms Freemantle will go from strength to strength.

It was great to join governors and teachers on Friday evening to celebrate the school's success and toast its bright future.

HELP STOP THE POWER STATION!

Following the public meeting at Holy Trinity Church on Wednesday evening, we thought it would be helpful, as your local Councillors, to write and set out how we understand the decision on the Helius power station will be taken, and most importantly WHAT WE ALL CAN DO TO STOP IT. Since the meeting we have spoken with the Infrastructure Planning Commission, the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the City Council to confirm some of these key facts.

Who makes the decision and how does the process work?

The current situation is that the decision is taken by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), a body set up by the last government to make big decisions of the this nature.

The City Council is not the decision maker but will submit its comments to the IPC along with local residents and councillors. It is likely that if Helius do decide to push ahead with their scheme that the final decision will not be made for another year or more.

There are a number of different stages and points where people can object to the application:

• Pre Application Stage – this is the stage we are in now and anyone can comment to Helius on their proposals. It also makes sense to send your comments to Southampton City Council and IPC.

• Application Stage – Helius makes a formal application to the IPC.

• Acceptance Stage – The IPC has 28 days to decide to accept the application or not. One factor that may mean that the application is not accepted is if the public consultation has been inadequate.

• Pre Examination Stage – we can all comment on the scheme. First you must register by filling in a form. This then allows you to make a comment. This stage normally takes 3 months. Anyone who registers will be invited to a preliminary IPC meeting.

• Examination Stage – anyone who registered in the Pre Examination Stage is invited to submit their detailed comments in writing and they may also get the chance to speak at IPC meetings in Southampton. This stage can take up to 6 months.

• Decision Stage – a decision is made and reasons given – this could take up to 3 months

• Post Decision Stage – there are 6 weeks to appeal. Appeals take the form of a Judicial Review.

The Localism Bill

Many people are rightly upset that the last government placed the decision with an unelected, unaccountable body, taking it out of the democratic process.

The new Coalition government is changing the process and is in the process of passing a new law called the Localism Bill. If this law is enacted before the decision on the Helius scheme, then the decision will be referred to Chris Huhne, the Secretary of State, for his decision.

When can we object?

There are 2 immediate deadlines when people must get their comments in by.

1. The closing date for objection to Helius at the current Pre Application Stage is 21st April. Please make sure that you get your comments to Helius by then and we also suggest that you copy your correspondence to the City Council and the IPC for good measure.

2. The closing date for comments to the City council so that they can be taken into account by the council’s planning panel is 28th April. If you get your comments in by then they will be put before the panel on their meeting on 24th May and this will help the panel with its response to Helius, at this first Pre Application Stage.

What are the contact details we need?

IPC Contact Details

Tel: 0303 4445000

Email: Portofsouthampton@infrastructure.gsi.gov.uk

Post: IPC, Temple Quay House, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN

Web: www.independent.gov.uk/infrastructure

Helius Contact Details

Post: Helius Energy plc, 242 Marylebone Road, London NW1 6JL

Web: www.southamptonbiomasspower.com

City Council Contact Details

Steve Harrison, Planning Officer Team Leader

Tel: 023 8091 7568.

Email: stephen.harrison@southampton.gov.uk

Post: Southampton City Council Civic Centre Southampton SO14 7LS

As your local Councillors we are doing everything we can to fight this monstrous scheme. Please contact us if you need our help or have any questions for us. We will support the community every step of the way.

BY WORKING TOGETHER WE CAN STOP THIS!

A Budget To Fuel Growth

Yesterday the Chancellor, George Osborne, set out his 2nd budget with plans to reform the economy, to create jobs and support families.

This Budget will put fuel back in the tank of Britain's economy.


Help for families:

- An immediate cut in fuel duty by 1 pence per litre and a delay of April's inflation rise in duty to next January. This means fuel duty is 6 pence lower than it would be under Labour. We are paying for this by putting up taxes on the oil companies while the oil price is high to create a Fair Fuel Stabiliser.
- An increase in the personal allowance from £6,500 to £8,100 over the next two years. This will mean £326 extra for working people and it will lift over a million low paid people out of tax altogether.
- £250 million to help 10,000 first time buyers get on the housing ladder.
- A freeze in Air Passenger Duty this year.
- Money for councils so virtually every council in England will freeze council tax next month.
- A new scheme to allow Gift Aid to be claimed on the contents of charities' collecting tins and street buckets, and support for largest donations with radical reforms to Inheritance Tax - if you leave 10 per cent or more of your estate to charity, then the Government will take 10 per cent off your inheritance tax bill.
- As well as helping in the short term we need to reform our economy to create growth and jobs in the future. The hard truth is that Britain has lost ground in the world economy.

Under Labour manufacturing halved, and growth depended on unsustainable public spending, debt and financial services. We need a new model of growth based on investment, manufacturing and exports - a Britain that makes things again. This Budget started that process, with measures that include:

- An additional 1p cut in corporation tax. In April this year corporation tax will fall from 28% to 26%. It will continue to fall by 1% in each of the following three years reaching 23%. Britain will be competitive again.
- Doubling Entrepreneurs Relief to £10m and sweeping changes to the generosity, simplicity and reach of the Enterprise Investment Scheme, with an increase in the income tax relief available from 20% to 30%.
- An extension of the small business rate relief holiday for another year.
- An additional £100m for new science facilities and more generous tax credits for small business research and development.
- 21 new Enterprise Zones with business rate cuts and new broadband to promote growth across the country.
- A review of the revenue raised by the temporary 50p rate of income tax
- 50,000 additional apprenticeships and 100,000 work placements for young people.
- £3bn for a Green Investment Bank, which will generate an additional £15 billion in private sector investment in green projects and low carbon energy.

Fluoride Decision Must Be A Local One

I am appalled at the arrogance of bureaucrats at the Strategic Health Authority. This unelected Quango is set to be abolished in April 2012, yet it still intends to push through its plans to add fluoride to our local water supply.

These sorts of controversial decisions should be taken locally and not by unaccountable bureaucrats. In April next year the SHA is being scrapped and decisions like fluoride will pass to local authorities. This makes their decision to push ahead even more perverse.

I am objecting to this in the strongest possible terms. They should put the decision on hold and then local people can decide the issue in due course.

Union Militants Will Damage Southampton

The union bosses say that they will mount a legal challenge against Southampton City Council over terms and condition changes and that they will hold crippling strikes. What is it really they are hoping to achieve?

By making these changes the council is ensuring that front line services are protected as best they can be. That’s why in Southampton all our leisure centres, our libraries and sure start centres will stay open, and why we will keep important services like weekly bin collections and can invest more in safeguarding vulnerable children. Compulsory job losses are being kept to the absolute minimum.

There simply isn’t the money there to fund the pay rises that the union bosses are demanding and at the same time properly protect our front line services.

So if the unions succeed, what are the consequences? Southampton will go the way of Labour Manchester, with cuts to services and the closure of libraries and sure start centres and the like. Cuts to services will also mean the loss of hundreds of council jobs. Council tax will go through the roof.

Throughout the process the union bosses made it crystal clear that they weren’t interested in reaching an agreement. They offered no solutions and even went as far as stopping the Labour Party producing an alternative set of budget proposals for the city.

They want a fight pure and simple. They know if they win the cuts they will cause to front line services and the job losses that will mean. They don’t care because for the union militants this is purely about partisan politics.

Shame on them! And shame on our Labour councillors and Labour MPs for backing them!

Council Leader Says 'No Thanks!'

The Daily Echo front page today carries the story that Conservative Council Leader, Royston Smith has vowed to oppose the proposed Power Station in the Western Docks. This is a tremendous boost for the campaign to stop the Helius application.

No to Power Station!

As your local ward councillors, Brian Parnell, Michael Ball, and I will do all we can to fight the proposed Helius power station in the Western Docks.

The Conservatives on the city council will be objecting to Helius, the city council’s planning department and the Infrastructure Planning Commission (the decision makers).

We will be raising residents’ concerns of about:

- The size and mass of the proposed building and its impact on the community
- Noise levels
- Air quality
- Pollution
- The fuel source
- Traffic consequences during both construction and operation

We will also do everything we can to raise awareness in the local community.

If would like to speak with us about this issue or any other matter please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Backing the Have a Heart Campaign

This afternoon I am visiting Southampton General Hospital to see the work being done at the specialist children's heart centre.

Despite being rated as the 2nd highest performing of 11 centres in England, it is under threat from closure, with the number of such centres around the country being reduced.

A consultation is now taking place and I have written to the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley urging him put pressure on the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts to keep this excellent facility.

UPDATE 14/03/11 - Visit to the unit was extremely productive. We managed to have some very detailed dicussions with some of the surgeons and staff. We also saw the excellent work being done to support families by the charity Wessex Heartbeat.

Cllr Leader Royston Smith and I have pledged to lobby the Prime Minister to support the unit and the great work being done there.

Funding Boost for Local Children

The Coalition government is keeping its promise to spend more on schools and to target extra funding towards the most deprived parts of the country.

The details of the funding settlement for Southampton schools has now been announced. On average Southampton schools will receive an extra 3.4% in funding in this coming year and this includes more than £2.7m extra in the form of the new Pupil Premium.

The Pupil Premium means that extra funding is targeted to support children who receive Free School Meals and to children whose parents serve in the Armed Forces.

This is fantastic news for Freemantle Ward with many local schools set to benefit from the Pupil Premium:

Banister Infant School + £13,760
Foundry Lane Primary School + £32,650
Freemantle C Of E Infant School + £10,750
St Mark'S C Of E Junior School + £37,840
Regents Park Community College + £80,380

Locally Conservative Councillors are protecting funding for the city’s Sure Start Centres so that, despite the tough financial times we ensure that all these valuable facilities remain assessable for local families.

Meetings Regarding Proposed Power Station

The Infrastructure Planning Commission is holding two further consultation meeting regarding the application by Helius for a bio mass power station in the Western Docks.

Please get in touch if you want to raise anything with Brian, Michael or me on this matter.

Labour Are To Blame For Britain's Debts

Labour are very keen to blame the banks for the country’s financial problems.

Whilst the banks have a great deal to answer, for we shouldn’t forget that Gordon Brown’s reckless spending and borrowing from 2001 onwards is for the most part the reason for the Britain’s huge debts and budget deficit.

Despite this apalling legacy Labour still refuse to apologise.

There is no apology for the longest recession amongst the world’s biggest economies.

There is no apology for the deepest economic contraction in Britain’s history.

And there is no apology for the biggest deficit in the developed world.

Local Advice Surgery

As your local Councillors we hold regular advice surgeries at the Freemantle Community Centre in Randolph Street. If you would like help with anything please come along or get in touch with us.

The next surgery date is:

Saturday 9th April from 10am – 12pm.

Local Crime Data Online

A new police website (www.police.uk) is now up and running, giving details of local crime information. From April it will be possible to receive text updates for your area and to use the website to pass on information to the police.

Your Views on Power Station

Energy firm Helius is now consulting on its proposals for a wood chip powered biomass power station in the Western Docks, ahead of submitting a formal planning application.

The deadline for responses has been extended to 21st April and details can be found at www.southamptonbiomasspower.com

There is another chance to view the plans on 21st and 22nd March between 2pm and 7.30pm at Thompson Memorial Hall, Millbrook Baptist Church, Testwood Road.

Labour Plans Huge Council Tax Rise for Southampton

Labour run Manchester council are slashing front line services and closing community facilities like libraries and swimming pools. They are taking advantage of the financial crisis to make unpopular decisions and then blame the coalition government to score political points.

In Southampton the Labour Party refused to say what their plans would be if they ran the city. But we can be sure that they too would pursue the same cynical tactics; closing facilities and making the cuts as painful as possible.

In the last year that Labour ran Southampton City Council they hiked up council tax by a massive 18.5% and they have made it clear, that if they win the council elections in May, they will hike up council tax again; meaning rises of £300 or more a year.

By contrast, despite facing the toughest set of finances ever, Conservative run Southampton City Council is doing its utmost to protect front lines services and keep costs down for local residents.

In Southampton council tax will be frozen for the first time ever and care charges and parking charges won’t go up at all.All our swimming pools, leisure centres, Sure Start centres and libraries will stay open. In fact we will even be opening a new Library in the middle of the Millbrook estate.

More money will be spent repairing roads and pavements and looking after vulnerable children. This is all possible because we are tackling bureaucracy, stripping out layers of top management and getting better deals from suppliers.

We are also asking higher paid council staff to take a small pay cut whilst ensuring a pay rise for the lower paid. Those earning the most will have to take the biggest reduction. Labour instead want pay rises for those earning £70,000, £80,000 and even £100,000 a year and want big council tax rises, in particular on pensioner households, to pay for it. Some households could face over £400 more in council tax next year under Labour.

There is a clear choice at the local elections the May; a Conservative Party determined to protect services, keep council tax down and get the city through these tough times and a cynical Labour party dominated by the union bosses and hell bent on service cuts and crippling council tax rises to make their political points.

Managing Houses of Multiple Occupation

Southampton’s Conservative Council has taken the lead in embracing new planning powers (called an Article 4 Direction) which allow the council to manage Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) more effectively. In future, planning permission will be required for new HMOs. A formal decision will be taken by the council at its Cabinet on 14th March.

Conservatives Freeze Council Tax

Today Conservative Councillors took the decision to freeze council tax in Southampton, for the coming year, ensuring that for the first time ever, residents will face no increase in council tax.