Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Wardle.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 May 2018 were agreed.

It was noted that Peter Turney had been appointed as the Countess Wear Site Manager from 1 July.  Stephanie Jones was now the Waste Water Services Operations Manager, Waste Water Recovery and Treatment (East).

Stephanie Jones reported that a service maintenance contract was now in place for the new scrapers that had recently been installed.

The UV system for the storm discharge had been installed but was not yet operational, and an update would be provided as soon as this is in place.

Consultation work had taken place with the Forestry Commission with regards to planting a new tree line around the perimeter of the site.  The trees which had originally been planted were not native and did not provide the anticipated cover.  Although trees may assist with lifting any potential odour and noise, this is being carried out as part of SWW’s biodiversity target.  A plan on the proposals and species of trees will be brought to the next meeting for information.

Eight complaints had been received since the last meeting.

A complaint of a strong odour had recently been received from Newcourt Road, but its origin was unknown as this was a distance from the SWW site and no other complaints had been received.

Reference was made to the Bloor Homes development at Seabrook and recent issues experienced with the private pumping station.  The pumps had been blocked with rag with some of the flow entering the river.  The Environment Agency had been involved.  It was queried whether some odour complaints could be linked to this.

A residents representative reported that although May, June and July had been free of odours, a number of strong odours starting from 10 August had been present, particularly on 22, 24 and 25 August and the past weekend.  Phone calls to SWW had proved frustrating in terms of a lack of response.  Stephanie Jones advised on the governance around tankers coming into the site and that she would be able to check dates and times on site from 10 August to try to identify any issues.  No work was taking place outside of normal activities.  She would investigate further according to the timelines given and liaise with the Principal Environmental Health Officer.  In addition, discussions would be held with SWW’s Customer Service Team to clarify the process for any complaints of odours being reported.  An officer is dispatched to the area if any reports are received through Environmental Health to verify the odour and report to SWW.

It was suggested that residents representatives are provided with a log sheet to record any incidents to enable SWW to assess the data during those times including activities, wind direction etc.  This does not preclude residents from phoning in to SWW or Environmental Health to report complaints if odours are ongoing.  The log sheets could be collected weekly if odours were particularly strong or frequent, but would be gauged once the process had developed as to how often these are gathered.  The log sheets could also be sent to any other complainants if they wished to participate.

Odour Management Plan (OMP)

Nigel Thomas-Childs expressed disappointment in the lack of progress on the OMP.  The OMP was a requirement of the waste permit and is only for waste functions on site, and not the sewage treatment part of the works.  It had previously been agreed that the OMP would be completed in time to sign off for this meeting, but had yet to be made available.  Some of the content from the Hayle OMP would be used for the Countess Wear OMP as they had similar issues.  It would also make the documents more consistent.

Stephanie Jones reported that she had chased the progress on this and that a draft for view and comment would available within the next 14 days.

The Plan includes areas identified for improvement, actions taken, lessons learnt.  It was suggested whether the log sheets being trialled mentioned earlier in the meeting could be included.  Stephanie suggested that it may be referenced as a footnote, but would prefer not to include in the plan until it was agreed as a long term process.

Reed Walk

A residents representative referred to a previous meeting where it had been advised that contact details had been attached to the cabinet of the Reed Walk pumping station in the event of any issues.  On visiting the site, it was observed that no contact number was present, and the Principal Environmental Health Officer would report this to the Housing Lead - Tenancy Services.  This was a private pumping station which SWW had not adopted.

SWW had delivered the Love Your Loo leaflets to properties in Reed Walk to encourage residents to only flush appropriate items, therefore assisting in preventing blockages.

Developers would liaise with SWW’s Development Services in regard to any future housing developments that require SWW to adopt the sewers.

The date of the next meeting would be arranged for January 2019, to be confirmed.