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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.

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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