Newsletter

Autumn 2006

MEGA MADNESS

Members may already be aware of a plan to site a mega depot at Pyestock, just metres away from residential areas in Fleet and Farnborough.The application has been submitted by Astral Ltd. The Save Pyestock Campaign Group (SPLAT) have been formed to oppose the proposal (website http://www.pyestock.com).

What is a Mega Depot? A mega depot is a massive warehouse and distribution centre that operates 24 hours a day and seven days a week, with heavy goods vehicles constantly entering and leaving the site. Typically, they comprise gigantic sheds that house long lines of HGV loading bays. Mega depot loading bays are used on average 10 times per day, although it is possible to use each bay far more. The Pyestock developers originally put in for 150 loading bays! If used 10 times per day, that’s in ten times and out ten times, that’s 20 HGV movements for each bay …an awful lot of HGVs roaring around and polluting our area.

What price? If the Pyestock application is granted by Hart District Council there will be a high price to pay: air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution and the visual impact of 60 feet high ugly sheds will change the rural character of our corner of N.E. Hampshire forever. The emissions from 1 HGV are equivalent to those from 77 cars. A recent Rushmoor Air Quality report revealed that HGV transport accounted for 6% of the vehicles but 45% of the harmful nitrous dioxide emissions polluting the air around Junctions 4 and 4a of the M3.

Noisier at Night According to their own Environmental Statement, the depot will be noisier at night, thus breaching the World Health Organisation guidelines for night time noise and resulting in sleep deprivation and sleep disturbance

Architectural masterpieces? The visual impact of a mega depot is ghastly. They resemble giant aircraft hangers. The largest proposed for Pyestock will have sides of one third of a mile long. At over 60 feet high such sheds would tower over trees. They are lit up like an airport at night. It is likely that Britain’s largest building will be one of these sheds. What an horrendous prospect!Nature lovers are concerned. The Pyestock site is bordered by an SSSI and SPAs. Fleet Pond Nature Reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is a tranquil wildlife area treasured by residents of Fleet and Farnborough and is a regular haunt for ornithologists. It is an oasis of unspoiled nature in an area that is being developed to death. 24 x 7 lighting will affect nocturnal fauna, change the ecology and disturb nesting patterns. Run off from the gigantic roofs may pollute the Pond. The resultant air pollution will compromise the health of both humans and wildlife.

Some suggest these depots are inevitable or even that they represent progress. But even those in favour prefer that they are sited in areas of high unemployment, with access to a motorway, far from residential houses, and with their own rail freight terminal. Pyestock has no rail terminal nor direct access to the M3 (nearly 2 miles) and is close to homes in Pondtail and Southwood! The road infrastructure is wholly inadequate. All roads entering the site are single carriageway and already severely congested at peak times. Imagine the numbers of HGVs necessary to bring in the ballast, sand and concrete just during the construction phase! Others argue that in 10 years such depots will be obsolete as the price of fuel will be so high that this transport option will no longer be viable. If this turns out to be true, then these disused monstrosities will cover swathes of the UK. Just one site could be 1.25million square feet- the size of 21 soccer pitches! Once laid and no longer used, that’s an awful lot of concrete to break up!

Radical rethink needed Because UK agriculture and manufacturing has declined, we have to import almost all our foodstuffs and manufactured goods and transport them all around the nation. In supermarkets we can select runner beans from Peru. Whilst the Peruvian farmers may be pleased at our choice, we can’t help thinking that they probably only get a few pence for their produce and then the food miles that occur before we consume them is incredible.(By road to Lima, by air to the UK, by road to a central depot for packaging, by road again to another depot for distribution and by road yet again to the supermarket.)Maybe we should grow our own food and eat it in season, when it is at it’s at its tastiest and freshest.

Other Councils reject these monsters. Councils all over the South East are refusing applications for mega depots on the grounds that 24 x 7 operation is unreasonable for nearby residents. Quite right too! Rushmoor Council have rejected an application to extend weekend flying at Farnborough, so why should we put up with a new source of noise, increased carbon emissions, threats to health and climate change. 2,500 residents have already objected. Come on Hart District Council, listen to the views of the 2,500 people who have bothered to write to you listing their objections to a mega depot at Pyestock, and reject the application.

It’s Mega Madness.

Council tax cash may be recycled into government fines in Surrey.

Under the new Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme(LATS) each local authority has been allocated an allowance in tonnes for the amount of waste it can send to landfill. Above that level councils must buy credits from other local authorities. The Government has said it will fine Surrey and other councils who landfill waste £150 per tonne if they do not buy sufficient credits. The clear winners under the scheme are councils who burn waste. According to FoE, fourteen councils in England which incinerate waste will actually see their landfill allocation increase in the first 5 years of the scheme. So not only do they benefit from selling their allowance, they can also continue to send waste to landfill. A new report from the National Audit office suggested Surrey, which has no incinerators, was 108,000 tonnes off its 2010 target under LATS. FoE is no supporter of incineration. It believes that one of the reasons that recycling rates are so low is that incineration currently receives more tax breaks and subsidies than recycling, and is therefore cheaper. It estimates that the amount of government support potentially available for incineration is between £7.65 – £14.75 per tonne, but that is dependent upon them being eligible for the full range of credits, in practice incinerators do not generally incorporate CHP for example - worth £1 per tonne.

Surrey Waste Plans The Camberley News and Mail and Surrey Advertiser have both been reporting on Surrey County Council's reaction to the threat of fines, and their attempts to divert waste away from landfill. According to reports Surrey County Council's "interim solution" will see an average of 39,500 tonnes of waste each year go to an incinerator at Allington in Kent. Brenda Pollack, Friends of the Earth South East Co-ordinator in reaction said: "It is much more sustainable for waste to be dealt with at small scale locally based sites. We are already aware of how congested roads are. It's just not a good idea to transport waste all these distances. Large scale incinerators are good for business but not for people who live near them."

Dr Michael Warhourst, Friends of the Earth's senior waste campaigner took on the debate about incineration. "The Government and waste industry must stop peddling the myth that waste incineration is green energy," he said. Incinerators can generate electricity, but they produce more climate emissions than a gas fired power station. The government must make clear that it will not support the building of such polluting plants. Using these incinerators to produce energy will undermine government attempts to tackle climate change."

The amendments to the Surrey contract are at least some form of progress. Under the original contract with SITA signed in 1999 provision was only made for recycling 30% of Surrey's household waste. The remaining waste was to be burnt but thanks to some excellent campaigning work by FoE, GAIN (Guildford Anti Incinerator Network) and many others the County Council has been forced to rethink. The revisions to the 25 year contract mean that Surrey will be planning for recycling facilities in support of a 60% recycling rate. BVFoE has recently responded to the Surrey Waste Plan consultation in support of a recycling rate of at least 60 per cent, and arguing that this is the priority target for Surrey.

The EU are faced with fines from the World Trade Organisation because they have banned the use of hormones in meat production. Hormones reduce the amount of fat in meat, which is what consumers want. However, food campaigners and veterinary organisations oppose their use on health and safety grounds. The WTO say that there is insufficient evidence for the ban, but the British Veterinary Association says that, if people knew what was in meat, especially cheap imports from non-EU countries, they would not buy it. A spokesman said that the British government has cut the amount of money for tests on meat, and there should be more inspection and testing.

Meanwhile, FOE is urging all members to contribute to the "consultation " on GM foods. The government invites comments on how GM and non-GM crops can co-exist in England . FOE campaigners say the consultation is an attempt to let GM crops in through the back door.

Between 12 September and 11 October has been designated the Big Ask Big Month. As you already know, national Friends of the Earth launched The Big Ask at the beginning of last year, to call for a UK law (The Climate Change Bill) to start reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 3% a year. Over 400 MPs nationally signed EDM 178 including Surrey Heath's Michael Gove, who to his credit has been very supportive of our campaign including participating on the panel for Big Ask public meeting in Camberley. To the great shame of his environmentally responsible constituents the Aldershot MP Gerald Howarth (Aldershot) has so far declined to sign the EDM.

Because of the great success nationally with the EDM, FoE has now decided the time is ripe to lobby the Government hard for the Climate Change Bill to be included in the Queen's Speech in November (the Queen's Speech outlines what the Government intends to do in the forthcoming year). What FoE is asking for is for all members to lobby their MP (either by attending the MP's surgery or writing to the MP at the House of Commons), and get a pledge from the MP that they will write a letter to Tony Blair and David Miliband (Environment Minister) ensuring that the Bill is in the Queen's speech.