Planning permission in principle is being sought for the construction of one new dwelling on land adjacent to School House, Tremail, Davidstow PL32 9YQ:
Construction of a new home adjacent to School House, Tremail
Polish Prefabricated Houses in Davidstow!
I was taking my habitual bike ride across Davidstow Airfield yesterday afternoon when my eyes beheld a most unusual sight:
Needless to say I cycled over to enquire what was afoot. The driver of the lead articulated lorry informed me that he was from Poland and his English wasn’t very good. I assured him that his English was better than my Polish! He suggested that I speak to Piotr instead, which I duly did:
Piotr told me that the Polish company Danwood S.A. had previously assembled one of their prefabricated homes down the hill in Tremail, and they were currently about to construct another one down the hill the other way, near Camelford. However the big trucks shown above were unable to negotiate the narrow Cornish lanes, so everyone was busy on Davidstow Airfield transferring the components of the building onto smaller trucks for transport to the site:
Piotr assured me that once all the parts were on site it would take around 3 days to erect the building, and that it would be weatherproof within a week!
Given my own interest in electric vehicles and renewable electricity generation I asked Piotr about whether Solar PV panels or an electric vehicle charging point would be part of their latest new build in Cornwall. He said that Danwood could cater for both, but he didn’t know whether either had been specified for this particular home.
Watch this space!
Construction of two homes east of Meadowview, Tremail
Outline planning permission is being sought for two dwellings on land east of Meadowview, Davidstow PL32 9YQ:
Kasia Turajczyk’s Camelford Art Exhibits
According to a new article on her web site Tremail based artist Kasia Turajczyk is currently exhibiting some of her paintings at The Camelford Gallery:
I am back to the active and creative part of myself. I am back at my studio. The weather is getting better, warmer. I am back in front of the easel and back at my drawing desk.
I have delivered a few old and new paintings to The Camelford Gallery, in the centre of Camelford at 23 Market Place.
The gallery is full of exciting paintings in oil, acrylics, watercolours, drawings, graphics and prints. If you are in Cornwall at the moment or planning a holiday this year, you should try hard to visit the gallery.
Kasia concludes by saying:
It doesn’t have the usual holiday-like-boats-trashy-images. If you seriously appreciate quality art, The Camelford Gallery is the perfect place for you.
I’ll try to translate that for you. If you’re visiting Cornwall and you want to buy pictures of fishing boats bobbing up and down on a cerulean blue ocean then go to St. Ives, preferably before or after the forthcoming G7 Summit at Carbis Bay. However if you fancy some more substantial artistic fare then come to Camelford instead!
By way of example, here is one of Kasia’s water colours with a bit of blue in the background:
Cornwall Council 2021 Elections
All the current Davidstow parish councillors have been re-elected without opposition, so we have had to look further afield for some election day excitement. On Thursday instead of our usual gentle stroll to the other side of Tremail we had to take a drive in Lisa, our trusty Nissan LEAF electric vehicle:
We spent yesterday “live Tweeting” the election results from across Cornwall as they arrived, including this “shock news” from our recently boundary changed local district:
As you may be able to surmise from the above, we weren’t too impressed with the ultimate conclusion across Cornwall as a whole:
With a 37% share of the “popular vote” the Conservative Party now has a 7 seat majority on the “redistricted” Cornwall Council. With a 9% share of the vote the Green Party has but a single seat. Personally I cannot comprehend what the farmers and fisherfolk of Kernow were thinking when they voted for someone sporting a true blue rosette.
Perhaps somebody can enlighten me?
February Parish Council Meeting
Following the cancellation of January’s meeting of Davidstow Parish Council the agenda for the meeting at the Tremail Methodist Hall at 19:00 on February 3rd has been posted on the Parish Council web site.
It’s not very long, but it is very interesting. To yours truly at least!
1. Planning
PA20/00526 | Extension to the existing housing development providing continuation and completion with a detached three bedroom dwelling. | Plot 9, Kittows View, Hallworthy, Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9SH
2. Cornwall Governance Review
a) To decide on consultation arrangements for the proposed transfer of the remaining parts of Hallworthy into the Parish of Davidstow.
b) To review the decision to request an increase in the number of Parish Councillors.3. Saputo Update
4. Feedback from the Camelford Network meeting
All Welcome
I discovered about this week’s Camelford Community Network meeting just too late:
I'm aghast that I was previously unaware of this event. Was it open to "the general public"?
If so will there be another #ClimateEmergency discussion down the hill from #Davidstow at some point in the not too distant future?
— Jim Hunt (@jim_hunt) January 29, 2020
Maybe I’ll be able to discover what was said last Monday in the Methodist Hall next Monday?
Maybe I’ll also be able to discover why there was still a powerful pong when I cycled past Inny Vale earlier in the week, after Saputo (nee Dairy Crest) had allegedly already installed their new aeration system?
October Parish Council Meeting
Davidstow Parish Council is back to its regular schedule of meeting on the first Monday of each month.
As far as I can tell the agenda for the meeting on October 7th 2019 is still not available on the Parish Council web site, so I cycled to the noticeboard in Tremail and took this picture:
I shall certainly endeavour to attend the meeting, since I represented Tremail on the meeting between the Parish Council and Saputo (as Dairy Crest is now called) up at the “cheese factory” last week. Here’s a photographic record of my visit:
Earlier in the summer I also attended a meeting where Cornwall Council’s “Climate Change Action Plan” was discussed:
The county of #Cornwall recently declared a #ClimateEmergency. Today's discussions at the #Penryn campus of the @UniofExeter are subject to #ChathamHouseRules.
However I have received permission to publish the following images:#ClimateCornwall #ClimateChange pic.twitter.com/cn1PArc2lh
— Jim Hunt (@jim_hunt) June 5, 2019
That plan has now been published. According to the County Council web site:
As a Council we have a leading role to play in the climate emergency, but we cannot deliver these ambitious outcomes alone, we will need support from all of our residents – from our communities, businesses, schools, public sector partners, the voluntary sector and many more. You have an important role to play in making change happen, not just as residents but in your working lives too. This is just the start of the journey; please join us in tackling the climate emergency.
On Monday evening it will be interesting to discover what the Camelford area equivalent contains. At the very least I know that Claire Hewlett, the mayor of Camelford, is interested in what the Cornwall Council’s report refers to as “mak[ing] electric vehicles a viable option for many drivers”. She recently visited our courtyard here in Tremail to examine our fleet of electric vehicles and associated charging infrastructure. In the pouring rain!
June Parish Council Meeting
Davidstow Parish Council usually meets in the Tremail Methodist Hall on the first Monday of each month.
However whilst it’s not yet apparent on the Council web site Davidstow.info have been reliably informed that the next such meeting has been postponed until Monday June 17th.
Camelford Neighbourhood Plan Consultation
Beginning today Camelford Town Council are holding consultations on the Camelford Neighbourhood Plan. According to the Town Council web site:
The Town Council is organising a public consultation review to gather feedback on specific policies of the neighbourhood Development Plan -such as housing development, transport/infrastructure, employment, landscape and green spaces.
Whether you are an individual, resident or business this is your chance to let the council know what you think. The survey runs from the 30 May to midnight 11 July so please make sure you respond before this period closes.
You can submit your feedback online or by downloading the form and returning it to the Council. Just visit this page of our site to complete the form!
In order to read the proposed development plan you will need to go to the library or download it from the Town Council web site, which points out that:
Camelford Town Council has prepared a NDP for the period to 2018 – 2030. The NDP sets out a vision for the future of the parish and planning policies which will be used to determine planning proposals locally. In 2014, Camelford Town Council (CTC) appointed a local research company “PFA Research” to work with the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) team to devise a comprehensive consultation survey, to help understand the make-up of the town’s needs in order to prepare the NDP. This survey was sent to all households in the Parish and on the CTC website, followed by various drop-in events including the Camelford Carnival in 2015, the Camelford Show in 2016 and an on-line survey in 2017.
All this information was used by the NDP Team to outline the policies for a plan which CTC hope will address some key issues around housing, the economy/employment, transport/infrastructure, community facilities/amenities, landscape/green spaces and renewable energy.
Neighbourhood Plans are strengthened by public feedback, so it is really important that you have your say at this stage. During this period, CTC would be grateful for your comments. CTC will also consult developers, community organisations, adjoining parish councils, businesses, land owners and national organisation ( e.g. Natural England, South West Water, Environment Agency).
PUBLIC CONSULTATION EVENTS/FEEDBACK
Thursday 30 May – Enfield Park, 2pm-4pm
Sunday 2 June – Clease Green, 2pm – 4pm
Thursday 6 June – 5pm – 6.30pm @ The Library
Tuesday 18 June – 5pm – 6.30pm @ The Library
Don’t say you haven’t been warned! Make sure to have your say before midnight on the 11th of July.
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!
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