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Davidstow Parish Council Election

Following the resignation of Keith Goodenough there is now a vacancy on Davidstow Parish Council. At least 10 residents of the parish have requested that an election be held, and if you wish to apply to fill the vacancy the necessary steps are detailed in this document from Cornwall Council’s returning officer, Kate Kennally:

Notice of election Davidstow Parish Council – 9 May 2019

The procedure is rather complicated!

Nomination papers can only be submitted in person on any day after the date of this notice, but not later than 4 pm on Tuesday 9 April 2019 to the following locations on the specified dates and times:-

2-5 April to the Deputy Returning Officer, Room 12, Cornwall Council, St Austell Information Service, Council Offices, 39 Penwinnick Road, St Austell PL25 5DR between the hours of 9.00 am and 5.00 pm and 9 April between the hours of 9.00 am and 4.00 pm

8 April to the Deputy Returning Officer, Deputy Returning Officer, Otho Peter Room 1, Launceston Town Hall, Western Road, Launceston, PL15 7AR between the hours of 9.30 am – 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm

POLLING DAY
If the election is contested, the poll will take place on Thursday 9 May 2019.

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Surfing Lusty Glaze in a February Heat Wave!

The images below are from beyond the parish of Davidstow, but Lusty Glaze beach just this side of Newquay is an easy drive from here for any visitors staying in the Davidstow area:

Apart from the rather bare beach that may look like the end of August but actually the pictures were taken on February 27th 2019, towards the end of the “heat wave” that produced the warmest English February temperatures since the United Kingdom’s Met Office records began:

However the water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of North Cornwall are currently nowhere near those that will be achieved by the end of August! Hence my neoprene hood to keep the dreaded “surfer’s ear” at bay!

This was the Magic Seaweed north coast surf forecast for last Wednesday:

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New Building at the Dairy Crest Waste Water Treatment Plant!

Dairy Crest have sent Cornwall Council a hybrid planning application comprising full planning permission for proposed upgrades to their existing creamery/factory, together with outline planning permission for proposed new buildings in relation to the waste water treatment plant, with all matters reserved. The address quoted on the application (ref: PA19/01034) is Dairy Crest, Blacka Lane, Davidstow, Camelford PL32 9XW

Given the assorted odours emanating on a regular basis from Dairy Crest’s existing waste water treatment plant I strongly suspect that Davidstow Parish Council and the Davidstow Residents Action Group will want to begin discussions with the Council in the very near future!

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Anaerobic Digester North West of Tregeen

Planning permission is being sought for the installation of an anaerobic digestion facility, together with associated works, plant and equipment on land North West Of Lower Tregeen, Davidstow:

Here are some extracts from the proposal’s Planning, Design & Access Statement:

Anaerobic digestion is a natural process which converts organic matter such as digestible waste (e.g. food, garden waste, farm slurry) and energy crops into energy. The main products resulting from anaerobic digestion are biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide), which is very similar to natural gas, and digestate, a bio-fertilizer. The biogas can be used to generate electricity, gas or heat, or compressed for use as a biofuel.

The farm already has permits for 75,000 t/year of feedstock to be brought to the existing structures, from where it is then stored and ultimately deployed via the surrounding farmland. This existing feedstock supply will be used for the AD Plant. The route (A39) and maximum volume of permitted feedstock will not change as a result of this application, so there would be no increase to the existing traffic generation on the surrounding roads. 1.9 The proposed development therefore offers the benefits of harvesting renewable energy and high-quality bio-fertilizer from existing supply material, using existing transport routes with no amenity impacts and predominantly permitted structures.

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Lower Tregeen Wind Turbine

A planning application has been made to repower an existing wind turbine at Lower Tregeen, Davidstow Camelford PL32 9XU. The application requests a maximum blade tip height of 77m, together with associated works, to replace a wind turbine permitted and erected under PA13/09438:

The proposed new wind turbine is somewhat larger than the one referred to in the 2013 application. That one was:

20m to hub, maximum 27.1m to tip, 20kW output

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Surf’s Up at Black Rock

These images are from beyond the parish of Davidstow, but the long beach at Widemouth Bay is a mere 15 minutes drive up the Atlantic Highway for any visitors to the area:

This was the Magic Seaweed surf forecast that tempted us away from Tremail:

Despite my advanced age and the impressive waves I somehow managed to battle my way out back! I patiently bobbed about on my sponge waiting for the perfect set. Eventually it arrived and I was in the perfect place!

Then a young gun on a pointy thingumajig took off just inside me.

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Dairy Crest Solar Farm EIA Screening Opinion

As mentioned at the recent meeting of Davidstow Parish Council, Lightsource BP have made a request for a screening opinion pursuant to the Town and Country (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 for a 5MW solar farm at Dairy Crest, Blacka Lane, Davidstow, Camelford PL32 9XW.

The proposed solar farm will occupy two separate fields, both forming part of the Dairy Crest holding and are located in its immediate context.

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Davidstow Parish Council September Meeting

I attended the meeting of Davidstow Parish Council in Tremail Methodist Hall yesterday, where much discussion took place regarding the plans by Dairy Crest to invest £85£75 million in their creamery at the top of the hill. The odours apparently still emanating from the Dairy Crest water treatment plant also got a good airing!

The Chairman of the Parish Council mentioned that there had been a meeting of the Davidstow Residents Action Group (DRAG) on August 2nd to discuss that issue:

Scott Mann, the M.P. for North Cornwall, had been in attendance, but the Environment Agency and our local County Councillor Rob Rotchell had not.

A resident of Trewassa reported that due to the easterly winds over the preceding weekend the smell had been “awful” on that side of the plant. The chairman said that Dairy Crest had attempted to implement “6 solutions that haven’t worked” and reported that the Environment Agency had given Dairy Crest 6 weeks to provide an explanation for the latest odious odours.

Getting back to Dairy Crest’s expansion plans, Reuters reported back in May that:

The company said it would expand its cheese production facility at Davidstow, in southwest England to 77,000 tonnes from 54,000 tonnes a year by raising cash through a share placement.

It would place 14.1 million ordinary shares, or about 9.98 percent of current issued shares, at a price of 495 pence per share.

The cost of the expansion is expected to be 85 million pounds and will be carried out over the next four to five years, Dairy Crest said.

Dairy Crest have employed the services of St. Austell based consultancy Situ8 to handle the planning issues associated with the expansion. Situ8’s Angela Warwick was at the meeting, and she explained that whilst plans for upgrades to the creamery itself were well advanced nothing could be implemented until the waste water treatment plant was upgraded and the current issues solved. Plans for that are less advanced it seems.

In addition there are also plans to construct a solar photovoltaic “farm” near the “cheese factory” as it is frequently referred to locally. There will be a consultation with Dairy Crest in Camelford on September 21st to discuss all this in greater detail.

Watch this space for more news as and when we receive it!

 

[Edit – September 8th]

I received the following letter in today’s post. It seems Reuters neglected to mention that “£75 million of which will be spent in Davidstow” regarding the planned investment by Dairy Crest.

Dear Mr Hunt,

I am writing with reference to two matters – firstly to update you on works to alleviate the odour emissions and secondly with regard to our planned investment at Davidstow.

As you know, permanent covers were fitted to two of the tanks at the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) at the beginning of this year. The initial results following the installation were good, indicating a substantial reduction in odours, as we had expected. Since then, we have had some further challenges due to the build-up of sludge in one of the covered tanks. lt has taken some time to safely remove this accumulation but the works have now been completed. Additional work is now being undertaken with an external consultant to check what further improvements can be made.

I am also writing to you about our recent announcement to undertake an £85 million investment to increase our cheese production capacity and improve our environmental credentials, £75 million of which will be spent in Davidstow.

This is a long term project which is expected to take place over the course of the next four to five years and will involve a small amount of additional construction on the site. A major part of this project is to make further investment in the WWTP to improve its efficacy and minimise the potential for it to impact on you, our neighbours. We will be installing new equipment, inside a process building, which will reduce the load on the current plant and thereby the potential for odour issues to occur. We also intend to develop a solar installation to generate electricity for our own consumption, thereby reducing the load on the local grid as well as reducing the site’s carbon footprint.

This investment is also good news for our 330 supplying dairy farmers, all of whom are in Devon and Comwall, and our 200 employees at Davidstow. Our existing farmers will be able to invest in their businesses and it will secure jobs at the creamery, thereby having a positive impact on economic activity in the region.

Please find enclosed an invitation to a public consultation regarding our intention to submit an application for planning permission for these projects. This will take place on Friday, 21 September from 4pm to 7.30pm at Camelford Hall, Clease Road, Camelford PL32 9QX.

We would encourage you to come to this event so that you can learn more about the proposals directly from us and so that we can answer any questions you may have. All the feedback we gather will be used to inform the planning proposals.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Evans

Site Director, Davidstow Creamery