Minutes:
(1) A supplementary report E5: County Matter Proposals agreed pursuant to the Urgent Matter Procedure under Delegated Powers had previously been published and circulated to all Members of the Committee.
(2) The Head of Planning Applications Group reported an urgent decision taken under Section 1.7 of Appendix 2 Part 3 of the Constitution (Item E5). This was to extendwherenecessarythe operating hours of the KCCContractedWaste TransferStations and final disposal infrastructure fora period of 3 months. This was a part of KCC’s Brexit ContingencyArrangements to provide the certaintythatthe BoroughCouncilsas theWaste Collection Authorities wereseekingfromtheCountyCouncil asWasteDisposal Authority. The commencement of the 3-month period would be notified in writing by the Waste Planning Authority. The extentof any extended hours wasnotclearat this time and would be dictated byindividual circumstancesat each site as affected byBrexittrafficcongestion.
(3) The decision relatedtoa requestby the County Council asWasteDisposal Authority which soughtto ensurethattheCounty Council hadeffective contingencyarrangements in placeto managekerbside collectedhouseholdwasteinthe eventoftrafficrelatedcongestion arising fromBrexitaffecting theabilityto manage household waste into and out of the waste transfer and the third-partydisposal sites.
(4) The request envisaged that, in practice,there should be no greaternumberof movements than currentlypermitted and thatthesemovementswould be stretched overa longer working day. In the eventof no congestion there would be no need forany outof hours working.
(5) The requestwaslinked to the following KentWaste TransferStation sites:
(i) DoverWasteTransferStation(Whitfield);
(ii) Ashford Waste Transfer Station (Brunswick Road);
(iii) Tunbridge Wells Transfer Station (North Farm);
(iv) Sevenoaks Waste Transfer Station (Dunbrik);
(v) Sittingbourne Waste Transfer Station (Church Marshes); and
(vi) Pepperhill Waste Transfer Station (Southfleet).
(6) The request was also related to the following third-party Final Disposal Points:
(i) AllingtonWaste to EnergyPlant,Maidstone;
(ii) Blaise Farm, West Malling, Tonbridge and Malling;
(iii) Countrystyle, Sittingbourne;
(iv) Ling, Hersden, Canterbury;
(v) Veolia,Hersden,Canterbury;
(vi) Smurfit Kappa,Snodland,Tonbridge & Malling;
(vii) ThanetWasteServices, Sandwich; and
(viii) Viridor Materials Recycling Plant,Crayford(outof area).
(7) The viewsof the Local Members and of the Chairman of the Planning Applications Committee (Mr Marsh) had been sought in accordance with the Urgent Matterprocedure. Three responses were received.No objection fromMr Marsh and Mr Chard (DunbrikWasteTransferSite).Mr Bartlett(AshfordWasteTransfer Station)agreed with the approach and drew attention to the proximityof ViburnumClose and Juniper Close to the CobbsWoodRecycling Centrein Ashford. He asked whethera press notice would be issued.
(8) In respect of Mr Bartlett’scomments, the Head of Planning Applications Group considered that the route taken byvehicles accessing and leaving the TransferStation avoided the need to go nearViburnumClose and JuniperClose.The approved route was one thatwascloselymonitored foradherenceby Providers’vehicles using vehicle tracking information. She also considered that thereshould be no need fora press release regarding the out of hoursoperationas thereshouldbe no effecton the public. This was true for all of the sites except for Dunbrik where it was intended to deliver a polite notice to local residents due to their proximityof the TransferStation; It was envisaged thatany outof hoursoperations would be keptto a minimumfor that site.Any communications regardingkerbside collection disruption should come fromthe WasteCollectionAuthorities directlyto their residents.KCCWaste Managementwould communicate with the publicvia socialmedia andpress outletsin the eventthatany HWRC service wasalteredor disrupted, as was the normalarrangement.
(9) The request wasagreed on this basis subjectto:-
(a) any extended hoursonlybeing initiated in the eventof significantdelaycaused to the local or widerprimaryhighwaynetworksor otherdelaying influencesarisingfromBrexit;
(b) this fall-backpositionproviding emergencyoperational control to theWasteCollection and Waste Disposal Authorities,with any additional operating hours beingkept to the absoluteminimum.In the eventof no significanthighwaydelays,therewould be no extended operating periods;
(c) theWaste Management Authorityseeking to implementwhatevermitigation was reasonablypossible to keep disturbance toa minimum in order to minimise anypotentialdisturbance to residents. TheWaste ManagementAuthoritycarefullymonitoringany additional hoursbeing workedand using any pertinentdata,information or representation to build in mitigation measures where required;
(d) these emergencycontrolsbeing in placefora period of 3months,commencing by written notification from the Waste Planning Authority;
(e) formal planning applications beingmadefor the variance ofthe planning conditions in the event of a further extendedperiod of additional hoursof working being operationallyrequired,based upon operational experience of Brexit; and
(f) records beingkept of anyout of hours working and being submitted to the PlanningAuthoritywithin one week of the outof hours working taking place.
(10) RESOLVED to note matters dealt with under delegated powers since the last meeting relating to:-
(a) County matter applications;
(b) County Council developments;
(c) Screening Opinions under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017;
(d) Scoping Opinions under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) regulations 2017; and
(e) the urgent decisions taken under Section 1.7 of Appendix 2 Part 3 of the Constitution as set out in (2) to (9) above.
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