Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Choules and John Leech.

The Chair expressed his condolences on behalf of the Group on the passing of Terry Green since the last meeting, and recognised all the excellent work that he had achieved over the years for this Group and the factory.  The Group stood in silence to pay tribute to Terry.

The notes of the meeting held on 20 April 2011 were agreed as a correct record.

With reference to the green waste recycling depot which was suggested at the last meeting as being a possible source of odour, it was thought that this had now closed.

The Group noted that one of the residents representatives, Mr Henthorne, had decided to stand down from the Group.

It was felt that monitoring of the factory was important through this Group, as was the views of residents.  Mr Staddon confirmed that he was happy to continue as residents representative.  With reference to a member of the public who recently wanted to make contact with a residents representative, Mr Staddon confirmed that he had replied and suggested the factory is contacted with any complaints and also that they could contact the factory for a visit to see first hand how the factory works.  Nick Parsons supported that view, and confirmed that input from a residents representative was much valued.

Nick Parsons referred to the last meeting where it was reported that there had been a reduction of raw material receipts at the Exeter operation of around 400 tonnes.  The impact of this reduction was felt through the four months of April to July.

August through to October has seen tonnages return to near normal levels.  There are two main reasons for this:

• The factory re-gained one of their major customers which resulted in an extra 150 tonnes per week gain.
• In October 2011 another PDM Plant at the Nuneaton site ceased processing Category 1 material (for disposal only and cannot be used for human or animal consumption)and entered a “clean down” protocol in order to start processing Category 3 material (not for human consumption but can be used in petfoods).  The Nuneaton plant was processing 1,500 tonnes a week of Category 1 material, and the majority of this raw material was re-diverted to the Widnes site leaving around 300 tonnes a week directed to the Exeter operation.

The plant is now operating at levels that are similar to previous years.  It is anticipated for this to continue through to 2012.

There were no other significant process changes carried out during this period.

Alex Bulleid circulated two additional complaints which had been received since the agenda had been circulated.

The overall number of complaints received was very similar to last year.

Alex advised that when the wind is in a south westerly direction, it blows across the factory site across all three towers and potentially creates a wider band of odour.

From some of the incidents recorded, no problems had been identified.  Occasionally a slight tweak was required at the factory.

Six complaints were received on one day (3 August).  Alex advised that she did go out to investigate and found a strong processing odour across the Valley Park.  However, following further investigation with the factory, no process problems were identified.

The Chair referred to both City Council staff and the factory acting quickly when complaints are made, and it was felt there was very good dialogue between the two.

The Chair reported on the St Leonards newsletter which had recently been distributed.  It contained a small article about the factory and how to complain.  This may result in more reporting.

Nick Parsons advised that the factory had recently met with the City Council regarding renewal of their permit, and discussions were held on improvements to be done in the future.

John Staddon asked if in future the number of different people complaining could be identified, so it would be easier to recognise how many times the same people are reporting odours.  It would also be useful to record the time of the complaint to see if odours were occurring over a condensed period of time.  Alex Bulleid would include this for the next meeting.

Reference was made to the complaint made this week on 14 November.  Unfortunately the factory had received unexpected deliveries on the Saturday which resulted in them shutting down with high stock levels.  In addition to this, a fault had been identified with the JLT tower which needed investigating.  Due to the circumstances, it was unfortunately difficult to avoid in this instance.

Nick Parsons introduced Rob Sargent, the new Transport Manager.

He referred to an article in the Express & Echo that Alphington Road would be closed during the evenings in January.  Concern was expressed as deliveries to the factory are taken at this time.  Councillor Newcombe advised that the road would only be closed for short periods at a time and would not fully close.  It was agreed that Nick Parsons would email her in order to obtain the name of the Highways Officer at Devon County Council dealing with this to obtain more information.

The date of the next meeting was noted.