DM10 - The Cumulative Impact of Development

we would like the final draft of the above document to include a policy that better engages and empowers local communities directly impacted by waste management proposals to independently monitor environmental impacts by providing them with local air quality monitoring equipment

Please find below our comments on the above. We hope they can be reflected in the final version.


As residents of Gotham we are naturally concerned at the cumulative impacts on the environment of various local developments including those concerned with ‘waste management’. Accordingly, under DM2 - Health, wellbeing and Amenity and DM10 -Cumulative Impacts of Development Key outcomes/Strategic Objectives Prevention of negative cumulative impacts, we would like the final draft of the above document to include a policy that better engages and empowers local communities directly impacted by waste management proposals to independently monitor environmental impacts by providing them with local air quality monitoring equipment. Among other things, this will encourage local communities to take a greater interest in and begin to ‘own’ their local environment; provide local communities with the necessary reassurance that their environment has not been adversely affected by developments such as those proposed in the local waste plan; and inform mitigation measures should they be required.

Background

Despite our objections, plans have recently been approved for a large waste incinerator plant on the site of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. This follows the recent increase in air traffic over the village; the huge reduction in greenbelt / agricultural land around the village; the proliferation of proposals to turn wildlife corridors and farmland into solar farms; the recent increase in road traffic (expected to get worse when the new, massive Fairham estate is developed; and the inevitable increase in waste disposal traffic especially if the new incinerator at Ratcliffe-on-Soar takes waste currently taken by the Eastcroft Incinerator in Nottingham city centre as seems likely. The air quality in Gotham is already suffering. We experience this on a daily basis.

There are a number of reliable, relatively inexpensive air quality monitoring products on the market that could be immediately deployed to villages such as Gotham that have taken the brunt of recent developments. The funding of a local community air quality monitoring device seems the very least that those responsible for developments should organise. We have no doubt that such a device will have an immediate positive impact on the local community especially if it is placed in a prominent position that is likely to be worst affected by pollution (in Gotham’s case outside of the old Post Office). Our proposal has been discussed with friends and neighbours in Gotham who have unanimously supported the proposal.

Support Policy DM10.

Our specific comments are attached in Table 1, appended to this letter.
Many thanks for the opportunity to comment on this Regulation 19 Pre-Submission version of the Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire Waste Plan, October 2023. We would like to refer you back to the comments that Historic England raised during the Regulation 18 consultation in April 2022, as largely they remain relevant.
Unfortunately, we do not consider that the Waste Plan has set out a positive strategy for the historic environment, as required by paragraph 190 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
There are a number of questions that we have raised in our consultation response about the potential impacts/harm for the significance of the historic environment, heritage assets and their setting.
Whilst we welcome the inclusion of a specific historic environment policy, and we consider this essential, we have raised a number of concerns about specific wording issues and policy areas that are absent from inclusion.
Further, there are a number of policy areas discussed within the Plan where there is the potential for harm to the historic environment and yet there is little or no detail on how this harm can be avoided or mitigated or what measures are required in order to assess the harm. As such we find that these policy areas are not legally compliant or effective.

We would be happy to discuss these issues with the Council and consider appropriate wording that could be included within the Plan to overcome these issues and are available to enter into a Statement of Common Ground if the Councils consider this is an appropriate way forward.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

(Please see attached for table and full representation).