Lydford sewage treatment works
Background to the proposal for a new works
It seems that the Lydford sewage treatment plant dates from the 1920's. It is situated on a steep slope with difficult access. It is claimed that Environment Agency standards mean that the present level of treatment needs to be improved, although for years now there have been reports of smells in the village. Rather than upgrade the plant on the current site, South West Water wishes to build a new treatment works and are said to be considering spending up to £1 million.
Writing in the October 2008 edition of the parish magazine the Chairman of Lydford Parish Council described the news as good. Clearly not everone agrees with this sentiment and a number of parishioners tried to get information and express their views at the parish council meeting held on 16th September. Minutes of that meeting record that a number of questions would be put to South West Water at a public event which was held on October 7th. These questions were:-
- Why does the existing Sewage Treatment Works need to move at all, and is it not possible to upgrade the existing works?
- What are the technical requirements of any proposed new location?
- What do the modern works sites look like, and what traffic movements do they generate?
- What are likely to be the next steps in the process?
- Will SWW use compulsory purchase orders to force unwilling landowners to sell to them?
Until mid November 2008 the Lydford Parish Council web site seemed to have no detailed information for parishioners on this important matter (see below for an update on this). Even now it is not clear if all the above questions have been answered. This, of course, is no surprise. See the separate section regarding the LPC website for more on just how underused it is for Council business despite being paid for out of public funds
Return to top of pageSWW preferred option
Information available at the public event on 7th October 2008 showed that the SWW preferred option is to build a new treatment works on a field just to the north of the Lydford Viaduct. The existing site is not considered a viable option in the long term but a detailed explanation for this was not given and the suitability of the site would depend to an extent on the technology used (see below). Four other options are said to have been considered and dismissed.
Use of the preferred location would require sewage to be pumped from a point close to the car park to the new treatment works. This would require construction of a pumping station and the laying of a pipeline along the main street, Silver Street and then down towards Lydford Viaduct. This could be very disruptive to traffic during the construction phase. A sketch map in .PDF format (opens in a new window) is available on this website.
LPC consultation
The minutes of the October meeting of LPC recorded that a consultation was to take place with parishioners and that written representations would be accepted by the council up until 7th November 2008. The topic of the proposed new works was also mentioned in the November edition of the parish magazine and a slip of paper was enclosed with the magazine to allow parishioners to respond to the consultation. Unfortunately the magazine contained no information on what the proposal might entail which means that anyone who did not attend the SWW exhibition at the Nichols Hall might have found it difficult to take an informed view.
Return to top of pageQuestions and answers regarding the proposed new works
Fortunately SWW have been helpful in providing answers to some additional questions (additional to the parish council's questions listed above). These additional questions and the SWW answers may well be of interest to other ordinary parishioners. Unfortunately the answers were supplied with a legal declaration prohibiting word for word reproduction. The 'answers' given below are therefore paraphrased and simplified rather than verbatim.
- Q. Does the existing drainage system separate storm water or is it combined with
domestic sewage to pass through the treatment works?
A. The latter. It is what is known as a combined system which means that it handles foul sewage and some rain water. Sewage Treatment Works should be sized to take the expected flows in a combined system, although excess storm water may be routed to special storm overflows as permitted by the Environment Agency (EA). - Q. What will happen to the old site near the Castle?
A. The fenced area will be retained by SWW although the large superstructure will be removed. - Q. Why are SWW seeming to opt for old technology in the form of conventional
filtration rather than a more modern approach such as a membrane bioreactor? This
type of technology treats the waste water to a high standard and takes up a small
footprint so may well be suitable for installation on the existing site.
A. The proposed process is tried and tested. It is widely used in villages. Membrane technology is not widely used and would require a higher level of maintenance as well as having higher running costs. - Q. Will the new treatment plant have capacity for any future expansion of housing
in the village?
A. Yes. It will be sized to take the expected growth in population up until 2031. - Q. In location A a major failure could swiftly pollute the Lyd running through
the Gorge. What measures will be taken to detect any failure and minimise the
effects of any pollution?
A. The technology proposed for the new works is relatively simple. Onsite monitoring would be connected to a control room in Exeter so failure should be detected. - Q. If location A is chosen a pumping station will need to be built. Is there any
risk that smells could come from this?
A. Smells should not be a problem from the proposed pumping station. - Q. What would happen if there was a failure at the pumping station? Would there be
any risk of build-up and release of sewage?
A. There will be storage within the sump. In the event of pump failure this should be adequate until such time as action can be taken. There will be monitoring connected to the SWW control room so failure should be detected. There will be a socket for connection of an emergency generator in addition to the provision of a standby pump. - Q. Will the pump be electrically powered and if so will there be a standby generator
in the event of a power cut?
A. The pump is electrically powered but precautions will be taken as described above. In the unlikely event that the above precautions are insufficient then there will be provision for untreated sewage to flow through a pipe to the existing STW site. - Q. What is the likely noise level from the pumping station and could this be a
nuisance to those nearby?
A. This is very unlikely due to the small size and flow rate of the pumps. - Q. Will there be any effort made to conceal or landscape the new sewage treatment
works to reduce visual impact if it is placed in location A?
A. Screening is proposed and will be agreed with DNPA at the planning stage. - Q. Bearing in mind that there will be no new technology, will the change of location
just result in the 'Lydford Pong' being moved from one place to another?
A. In answer to this question SWW seems to feel that the source of the 'Lydford Pong' may well be elsewhere other than the STW and they do not believe that there have been problems during 2008.
Subsequent communication with SWW has provided additional information on the topics of new technology and upgrading the plant at the existing location. It seems that they have tried membrane biological reactor technology at three locations in the South West but have experienced problems at all of them requiring a higher than expected level of operator input and maintenance. On the question of the existing site it seems SWW feel that providing level bases for upgraded plant would be a major undertaking on the steeply sloping site.
Thanks to SWW for providing information on which the above answers are based.
Return to top of pageExpressing one's views
It should be noted that the proposed new sewage treatment works affects not just those who live in the village and are on main drainage but also several other groups. Anyone who is a customer of SWW and wishes to see that company spend money wisely and responsibly may wish to take an interest. Anyone who has experienced the Lydford Pong may be interested as might anyone who walks the footpath near the preferred site. Indeed anyone who loves Lydford may well have an opinion and should have an opportunity to express their views.
The fact that the LPC consultation ended on 7th November 2008 should not deter anyone from expressing a view to their parish councillors after this date. There should also be further opportunity for members of the public to express a view when the planning application goes to DNPA.
If anyone is not familiar with the site for the proposed new sewage treatment works a good way to view it is with Google Earth. Simply type "50 38 37 N 4 06 13 W" (without the quotes) into the "Fly to .." box in the search section (cut and paste the coordinates if it is easier) and use the zoom controls as desired. This will centre on a point close to the track to Lydford Viaduct. The fields either side were under consideration for the new works but it now seems that one of these is no longer available (see under "Further developments" below)
Return to top of pageResults of the LPC consultation
The LPC consulation closed on 7th November 2008 with the results collated by an "independent scrutineer", thought to be the Chairman of the WDBC Standards Committee (LPC minutes October 2008 para 113.1). Why it was necessary to involve this person is not clear. The minutes of the November meeting of LPC give the results of the consultation as being 35 parishioners in agreement with the resiting of the sewage treatment works whilst 14 disagreed. This could not be the whole story as at least one consultation response expressed no opinion either way but suggested that there was insufficient information available on which to base a decision. There must have been at least one "Don't Know".
In fact the December edition of the parish magazine gave a slightly different result to the consultation mentioning 3 returns expressing no opinion. In response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act the independent scrutineer's report was made available on 16th December. From this it is obvious that the situation is not as clear cut as one might think from the minutes of the November meeting of LPC. It explains that only fifteen parishioners expressed a clear preference for or against a particular site with only five being in favour of site A (SWW's preferred site). The population of Lydford is given on the Parish Council website as 385 so the number actually expressing a clear preference for location A is tiny in percentage terms.
Paragraph 128.7 of the November minutes record the unanimous passing of a resolution supporting the proposed new sewage treatment works.This specifically mentions the consultation results as being a factor in this decision. Paragraph 126.2 of the same minutes record that a detailed reply to various questions had been received from South West Water and that the information would be appended to the minutes for publication on the noticeboard and the Internet. It also mentioned publishing the information in the Parish Magazine and indeed this did appear in the December edition.
It is not difficult to spot a problem with this consultation. It closed on 7th November but the minutes to which the detailed information is appended were not circulated until 24th November, i.e. after the closing date for the consultation. How then were people to arrive at an informed decision? It is true that some information was available at the SWW public event held on 7th October but the detailed information available now (see Q & A above) goes much further than that. In fact the scrutineer's report makes the point that many of the respondents felt that too little information was being offered, particularly on why the present site could not be improved
Most organisations wishing to carry out a consultation would ensure that those being asked for a view have access to relevent information before the consulation starts (or at least before it finishes!). One wonders why the LPC consultation was concluded with such haste, why an "independent scrutineer" was required and why, at such an early stage, the council even considered a resolution supporting the proposed new sewage treatment works. Surely the time to do this would be when the planning application was available and people could see just what form the works might take?
Return to top of pageSubsequent developments and the Viaduct field
One significant development has been the National Trust's decision in December 2008 not to allow the new works to be built on land owned by them and known as the Viaduct Field. For legal reasons this decision would be very difficult for SWW to challenge so long as the National Trust sticks to this line. It appears that this decision was taken following receipt of an environmental assessment. An earlier survey had shown that site may well be of significant archaeological interest. This, of course, is not the end of the matter and SWW are believed to be re-evaluating the technical suitability of various sites
The question about suitability of new technology has still not finally been laid to rest. Contact was made with a UK firm who promote a range of technologies including one that may well be suitable for use on the existing sewage treatment works site. Despite SWW's lack of enthusiasm for new small footprint technology the firm contacted did seem to think that they had something to offer. Unfortunately, having obtained the name of the SWW project engineer, they have failed to respond to further attempts to make contact. Not surpring really as they have what they want, a potentially useful business lead, even if the parishioners of Lydford do not.
In April 2009 a specific request for information was made to SWW. In a reply they stated that they were awaiting comments from the DNPA planning officer regarding possible sites. Another request was made in October 2009 pointing out that more than a year had passed since the SWW public event. A reply was received but this gave no further information on their plans although it did reveal that a new project manager now has responsibility.
As a reminder of just which sites were under consideration a sketch map in .PDF format (opens in a new window) is available.
Return to top of pageProblem solved?
Well not quite but perhaps on the way to being solved. It now seems that SWW will make improvements to the existing site rather than develop a new one. In consultation with the Environment Agency, SWW have made changes to the discharge that should permit continued use of the existing site. The changes already made include the diversion of the outfall to a soakaway. In effect this provides an extra treatment stage using soil bacteria and natural filtration to further clean up the treated water before it enters any watercourse
Further changes are also proposed to the plant and these should result in improved efficiency of the treatment as well as improved safety for SWW workers. A new electrical power supply is needed but it seems this can be provided in a way that will result in minimum distrubance the area.
All in all this seems to be the best way forward, both for SWW and for Lydford. It seems much preferable to losing a large green-field site to a new sewage treatment works. Well done SWW.
Return to top of pageFor anyone who has not already seen it a view of the existing site is given below:-
Lydford sewage treatment works Nov 2008