Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Bialyk.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 September 2017 were agreed, subject to the amendment of the word ‘tankers’ to read ‘tank’ in the third sentence, and the correct spelling of Nick Murch’s name, both in the Odour Management Plan item under minute no. 17.

Minute No. 17 – Reed Walk

Reference was made to the responsibility for the pumping station at Reed Walk.  SWW would not adopt the pumping station.

A residents representative confirmed that no further problems had been experienced from this since the last meeting.

Simon Ruddy advised that Housing at ECC had confirmed that contact details had been attached to the cabinet itself in the event of any issues, which will be dealt with by Mathews, a business situated in Exeter who had been contracted to service the pumping station.

Ian Ward confirmed that all new pumping stations will be built for foul water only and will have appropriate storage for the number of properties it services, eg hold for 24 hours.  SWW will only get called for issues with private pumping stations if they obtain power of entry or under environmental health regulations.

Letters had been sent to Reed Walk tenants to advise about not flushing inappropriate items, but as there may be a continuous turnaround of tenants, it was considered it would be useful to display a letter inside the building.

A campaign had been launched by South West Water called Love your Loo to encourage everyone to flush only appropriate items and could be aimed at problematic areas.  Councillor Newby would contact the City Council’s Service Lead for Housing Customers to establish if the fliers could be distributed to tenants.

Refurbishment of the tanks reported at the last meeting was still underway.  The work had been impacted by the weather.  The last tank had been drained down and it was anticipated that all four tanks would be complete and online by the end of March/beginning of April.  The procedure had become faster with each tank.

Ian Ward referred to a new Water Quality Directive where they were required to disinfect storm water discharge into the Exe.  A new UV system would be installed which will kill off all bacteria. All other treatments which currently take place will continue, and this is a final effluent treatment which will work to protect shellfish.

No complaints had been received by SWW or Exeter City Council since the last meeting.

However, a residents representative advised that a strong odour had been detected the previous day between 10.30am-11.45am, although there had been no problems prior to that.  Ian Ward advised that he would investigate what was occurring on site between these times and would report back.

A discussion was held over the high number of complaints in previous years including residents frustration at perceived lack of response and no action being taken, and the improvement seen in the last year.  The Proactive Team had now been disbanded, although if a rise in complaints was forthcoming then this could potentially be reintroduced.  The central SWW number should be used to log complaints on 0344 346 2020.  Any complaints would be passed on to the waste water operations customer contacts team and passed to the appropriate person on site depending on the issue.  The customer would be contacted to advise of the result of any investigations.  Ian Ward receives a monthly odour report so he would pick up issues from this also.

Simon Ruddy reported that from April 2016 to March 2017 Exeter City Council had received 83 complaints, but only 16 complaints between April 2017 and March 2018 to date including the complaint raised today.  SWW had gone from 108 down to 5.

Odour Management Plan (OMP)

Nigel Thomas-Childs reported that the Odour Management Plan was still progressing. SWW were in the process of producing an OMP for Hayle, and the content used for Hayle would be suggested for Countess Wear and vice versa as they had similar issues.

New developments

Reference was made to new developments, particularly on Clyst Road, and whether, if planning permission is granted, waste water to go to the Countess Wear site.  Ian Ward confirmed that this would be the case, and any future planned developments would go through SWW Developer Services.  Future developments including the Science Park and Cranbrook would all go to Countess Wear.  There will eventually be a ceiling on this, but an assessment will be made on a one by one basis.  Likewise, any developments would go through the Environment Agency’s Sustainable Places Team.

There are cases of small package sewage treatment works for small developments, with 600 across Devon and Cornwall already.

It was suggested that the next meeting could be held in mid-May, with the following meeting to be held at the beginning of September. 

If the number of complaints continue to drop, the meetings may be reduced to two a year.