Thorpe Marsh Landfill

Following the two public exhibitions in Nov 01 and Oct 02 a further meeting with The Banks Group was held at the Barnby Dun with Kirk Sandall Parish Hall on May 14th 03.

The proposals are to reclaim an area of derelict land between the old power station and the Thorpe Marsh Nature Reserve. This includes the areas of coal storage, the ash disposal facility (which is an existing landfill licensed for the disposal of ash and other wastes from the power station) and the rail sidings.

Taken from a Banks Group Brochure here are the main changes to the proposal.

To ensure that all waste traveling to the site will be delivered by rail. Only a limited amount of soil-making materials will come from the local area and will have to be brought to the site by road. The Banks Group will ensure that any such vehicles adhere to agreed routes and agreed times during the day to reduce the impact on the local community.

The proposal seeks to deliver the restoration of the ash deposal area without causing disruption to local residents and local road users. This will be achieved by the importation of non hazardous waste materials by rail into the site, which will be contained within an appropriately engineered waste disposal facility.

The current derelict rail sidings will be transformed into a state-of -the-art unloading facility, with waste materials arriving in closed containers and transported to the disposal area by site plant.

A limited number of local lorries will deliver soil materials to the site, including green waste from the local area, to be turned into compost to act as a soil conditioner to assist the restoration. any lorries using the site will be under contract and will be required to adhere to routing agreements to avoid sensitive residential areas.

the site will be split into 12 cells starting from the north and as one cell is filled the restoration of that cell will begin 

This will all take between 10 and 15 years.

The Banks Group would like volunteers from the local community to form part of a Thorpe Marsh Liaison Committee and they also intend to form a Restoration Steering Group to fine tune the concept restoration plan into a deliverable restoration scheme which matches the needs of the local community with the aim of encouraging wildlife, biodiversity, and nature conservation.

 

October 06, new planning application submitted much the same as the last one. Only this time they say they will bring waste from this area by train and barge. Do we really think they will take the trouble to off load lorries in this area, of waste to take it just a few miles by rail and barge, just to put it back on lorries for the short journey to the Landfill site. I don't think so!!

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larger image

Rare birds seen at Thorpe Marsh

Once this is over, we still have the problem over the other planning application from Abell UK who want to put 400+ houses and industrial units on the site next to the proposed Land Fill Site.
This will increase traffic to both Barnby Dun and Arksey with both private and industrial vehicles.
Other problems I can see are insufficient school places, insufficient shops and other amenities.

I feel all parties must get together and come to a solution once and for all over the restoration of this site.

The Nature Reserve has many rare and exotic birds that visit from time to time and is home to many rare and protected mammal, insects and plants.

This site must have only one out come and that is the whole area is retuned to the country side for the benefit of all.

The site's summary of the project is clearly extracted from Bank's own literature. Bank's have, throughout the application period, presented a distorted view of reality.
The "minimal amount of road traffic" consists of 30 return HGV trips (ie. 60 HGV journeys) through Arksey and Bentley every working day (Mon-Sat 7am to 6pm) for the ten years between 2005 and 2015. The working hours cover both morning and evening rush hours and school in and out times. Anyone who knows the state of traffic in Arksey at present must be horrified at the prospect. A little publicised fact is that the plan also requires an expected 100 daily light vehicles journeys in addition to the HGV's. These will have no restrictions over their routing and, presumably, at least half will travel through Barnby Dun.
Bank's include a traffic survey in their application which, in fact, is no more than a pack of lies. The survey, for example, states that between 7am and 10am on an average morning, 40 HGV's and buses pass Arksey level crossing. Let me assure you that, in that time, only 7 buses cross in each direction (and small ones at that) and that 40 HGV's would be all that pass through Arksey in almost 2 weeks at present!
Bank's also try to present the project as a site reclamation and emphasise how attractively it will be finished off. Has everyone really considered how long it will be before this is achieved? How old will YOU be in 2015? The truth is we are faced with 12 years of hell. There is the potential for noise, smell, infestation by pests and pollution. This latter point is a major concern. The site sits above the Sherwood Sandstone Aquifer, a natural underground water reserve. This aquifer provides drinking water for most of the east of Doncaster with water being drawn off at Armthorpe, Hatfield and Rossington.
Bank's application very carefully shows water abstraction points but only within 2.5 Km of the site. This JUST misses all the drinking water abstraction points. Another clear misrepresentation of the facts.

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Banks have submitted a new application not all that different from the last one. Everyone who signed the last petition and who wrote to the planners MUST do so again for this new application.
We are looking for more signatures and more letters of complaint than last time, your community needs YOU.
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