PDE submitted an application to Thurrock Council on behalf of Eurovia Infrastructure to allow for the erection and operation of a bitumen products plant, ancillary facilities and access on land off Burnley Road, West Thurrock, Essex.

The proposed scale and nature of the development at the Site is such that a formal assessment of its environmental effects is required in pursuance of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011. Accordingly, an Environmental statement was produced and submitted alongside the planning application for the proposed development.

We submitted the planning application on the 28 November 2016 and we are very happy to announce that we have received confirmation from Thurrock Council that the application has been validated on the 05 December 2016.

Land Logical Thorney have recently been granted planning permission to allow for the extraction, processing, sale and distribution of 3.4 million tonnes of sand and gravel, the erection and use of a concrete batching plant, the establishment of an inert waste recycling facility, the use of inert residues for restoration together with necessary highway and access improvements on Land at Pasture House Farm, Thorney, Peterborough following our planning application and environmental statement in October 2015.

The Environment Agency have also issued an environmental permit for the site, the total volume of waste to be imported will be around 200,000m³ per annum. Of the total amount imported, it is expected that 50% shall be recycling and sold back into the market as a variety of products and the remaining materials shall be finally disposed of at the Site in the course of its restoration.

The development will provide significant benefits for the area, the employment of around 25 full time employees, the supply of high quality minerals, recycled aggregates, restoration and all in conformity with current planning policies and in support of economic growth.  Permanent highway improvements will also be made and we are now progressing with further submissions to discharge the pre-commencement planning conditions.

The Environment Agency have granted a permit variation to WCL Quarries Ltd for their waste operation at Cranebrook Quarry, Brownhills, Staffordshire.

Previously there were separate permits for the inert landfill and recycling operation and the application served to combine the activities into one consolidated permit. The application also served to vary the conditions for the recycling operation to add waste types, add a treatment activity and provide a small increase in annual throughputs.

The recycling facility has a permitted throughput of 125,000 tonnes per annum and is authorised for the treatment of waste consisting of sorting, separation, screening, crushing, blending and drying of waste for recovery as a soil, soil substitute or aggregate. There was no change to the landfill activity although the permit conditions were updated to modern standards.

Following submission of an application by PDE Consulting Limited, Uttlesford District Council have issued a Part B Permit to SRC Aggregates for their concrete batching plant located at Highwood Quarry, Great Dunmow, Essex.

Also the Environment Agency have issued a Standard Rules Permit (SR2008No27) to SRC Aggregates which authorises the use of mobile plant. The mobile plant may be used for the treatment of soils and the treatment of contaminated material, substances or products, for the purpose of remedial action with respect to land or controlled waters.

PDE Consulting looks forward to continuing to work with SRC Aggregates as they continue to expand their business.

The Environment Agency (EA) have issued an environmental permit to Bournewood Sand and Gravel Limited, to allow the recovery of waste at a site at Tilbury Point in Essex. The permit allows for the importation and use of 200,000m³ of inert and excavation wastes to construct a development platform.

In accordance with the EA’s draft guidance RGN13, the EA requested evidence that the proposal would be financially viable if non wastes had to be used.

Whilst the EA did not have cause to issue a Schedule 5 notice requiring additional information, the whole process from submission of a waste recovery plan to issue of the permit took just over nine months and so applications should be submitted early to avoid delays to projects.

On behalf of Allen Newport Limited, we are delighted to confirm that Suffolk County Council have granted two planning permissions for Cavenham Quarry.

The planning permissions will allow for a physical extension to the Quarry to the west for the extraction of 1.1 million tonnes of saleable sand and gravel and will continue to provide employment to the area until 2026.

The permissions also allow for some minor changes to be made to the existing quarry, which include the temporary storage of soils and revised silting arrangement and will see the existing quarry and the new western extension area restored to Breckland Heath for biodiversity gain.

We are pleased to announce that standard rules permit (SR2008No10) has been granted to Aggmax Transport Limited for the operation of an inert and excavation waste transfer station at Bridge Industrial Estate, Wymondham.

The site can accept up to 75,000 tonnes per annum and will enable Aggmax Transport Limited to continue to deliver high quality products in a sustainable manner.

We are pleased to announce that the Environment Agency (EA) has duly made an application for a new standard rules permit to allow Aggmax Transport Limited to operate a transfer station for inert and excavation waste at Bridge Industrial Estate in Wymondham, Norfolk.

An application has also been made to South Norfolk Council for a Part B permit to allow the bulk storage of cement to be used in conjunction with volumetric truck mixers.

On behalf of Aggmax Transport Limited, PDE are pleased to confirm that the Norfolk County Council have validated a planning application for the storage of aggregates and waste and a distribution depot at Bridge Industrial Estate in Norfolk.

If approved, this will allow for the importation, storage  and onward distribution of aggregates and inert materials at the site. A maximum throughput of 20,000 tonnes per annum a of aggregates and inert material has been proposed for the site.

On behalf of Ayton Products Limited, PDE Consulting Ltd are delighted to confirm that the Environment Agency (EA) have accepted an application for surrender of the environmental  permit for Hainford Landfill site.

It is understood that this is the first permit in the country to be accepted for surrender where the landfill gas completion criteria was categorised as Scenario 3.  This applies to sites where methane concentrations within the wastes are greater than 5% v/v or carbon dioxide concentrations are greater than 10 % v/v and the application has to be approved by a panel of experts.

It is necessary to have a minimum of 24 monitoring datasets over two consecutive years for perimeter and in-waste boreholes and to meet criteria for maximum gas flow rates and maximum site characteristic hazardous gas flow rates.  In addition monitoring is required to be undertaken during certain site specific and meteorological conditions.

The final hurdle was a site visit from a team of EA staff to confirm that the site and related infrastructure were as described in the surrender application report which included an in-depth audit of the monitoring infrastructure.

It is incredibly important that the appropriate number of boreholes are installed, specific conditions are captured and that boreholes are fit for purpose otherwise years of costly monitoring can be pointless. Details as small as an ill fitting gas tap or cap can make the EA question the data and re-set the clock on the required monitoring period.

The EA were very impressed with the extra lengths that PDE undertook to capture the required conditions and also the evidence provided that boreholes are subject to continued maintenance and repair.