Continuing from the previous post...... I have tabled the following motion to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Full Council meeting to be held on Wednesday 14 November 2007
That this Council asks the Environment and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee to look at a review of the agricultural composting industry as a matter of urgency and how this affects the East Riding in particular. The review should include the monitoring and regulation of the processes, especially the range of material composted, the geographic origin, the storage, and the days and methods of spreading
This should have the effect of bringing forward the review to look into this diabolical situation.
The press coverage of agricultural Composting in the Yorkshire Post has been very interesting this last few days and can be veiwed at the following three links:
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/farming-news/Anger-over-a-new-kind.3439337.jp
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Compost-causes-problem.3414934.jp
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Scottish-compost-ban-fuels-call.3442538.jp
Many thanks to Chris Benfield at the Yorkshire Post for taking up this issue.
9 comments:
my god i've read some rubbish!
Well you've made your veiws public now, so you'll have to declare an interest, so what good are you when it comes to the vote. None what so ever!!!!!
Thankyou for that. Yes, I will obviously be declaring an interest when it comes to determining the planning application that brought this issue to a head. I feel this is a much more important issue than just a single planning application and have therefore waived my right to vote on this application, to concentrate my energies on the wider and more serious problem that composting brings to Howdenshire villages.
This is a decision I did not take lightly, but was taken in the interests of Howdenshire residents when I published the original post a few weeks ago.
Re. "...I've read some rubbish"
At last someone is listening to us and has taken up the composting nuisance. Paul can be far more effective by freeing himself to campaign openly on this issue rather than remaining bound by the rules and just being able to vote on the planning committee when the Ivy House Farm and Allensway and applications resurface. We need more than 1 vote on the committee to see these applications defeated!
re ....."my god i've read some rubbish"
I don't think you have quite grasped the point. This is about far more than a deferred planning application - it is about the upholding of the law. It is not acceptable for one or two people to make the lives of several hundred people miserable because they want to cash in on the decision to ban certain materials from landfill, nor is it acceptable for an elected government's departments to condone illegal activity. This whole debacle is becoming increasingly worrying and I am very pleased that at last the press and the politicians have got hold of it. Well done Paul.
Good Luck with the motion Paul, it beggars belief that the Government Agencies and Local Authorities are turing a blind eye to illegal activities concerning composting. Certain "farmers" are in danger of ruining the idea of sensible recycling of waste by their greed and total inconsideration of their neighbours. If factories were polluting the atmosphere with these foul smells they would be shut down immediately
We are not against the principle of composting green waste and recycling organic material, all we ask is that it is done in a way that does not ruin the lives (and maybe the health) of those living in the neighbourhood. We feel strongly that the only way this can be guaranteed is for the composting process to be carried out centrally in properly sealed buildings by a professional organisation which can achieve a much higher standard than these local farmers. Once the waste has been processed correctly and does not smell or pose a health risk, the farmers could then be allowed the compost to plough into their land. We hope our local politicians and the Yorkshire Post will now help ensure that the regulations governing the composting industry are properly enforced, and that the regulatory authorities are brought to account for allowing the lives of the people in Spaldington and surrounding villages to have been so blighted by the waste composting in this area.
Something which is desperately needed is for ERYC to insist that all composters MUST attend composting training courses etc BEFORE they try and set up their operations. There needs to be much more input / guidelines from the regulatory authorities into how the composting operations are set up, so that things do not go wrong and local people do not have to suffer from the stench and environmental pollution whilst the composters are learning by their mistakes! Paul can you include this in the ERYC full council review, please?
The more I look into the composting situation, the more evidence I find that the regulatory authorities involved seem to have no idea about what they are trying to regulate, or how to go about monitoring it. There are too many agencies involved and their roles overlap, allowing them to “pass the buck” from one to another. It is clear that there are insufficient resources available to carry out the immense task of policing the new on-farm composting industry which is largely being left to operate as it wishes with no consideration for the local community or concern for the environment.
I have two suggestions:
1. that composting is restricted to professional companies carrying out the operation in FULLY SEALED premises (not just a barn with a roller shutter door and some supposed wood-chip air filter extraction system) with a true “lock-gate” double entry door system, such that at no time can odours “escape”.
2. that a unified policing system is established, with those doing the inspections being fully conversant with farming practices, as well as the requirements of the legislation such that on-farm composters can no longer “pull the wool over the eyes” of the inspectors.
On-Farm composting stinks,working outside of regulation and has no regard to human health,animal health and the environment,if the statement is wrong, mr composting farmers of howdenshire,set up meetings at your farm for the public to be reassured that you conform to all regulations.Paul Robinson will get my vote every time.Councillors whom for years have had little or no regard to the situation in Howdenshire will never get my vote. Keep up the good work Paul.
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