Tunnel Tech North Ltd
MP Brendan Clarke-Smith launches personal Consultation
In response to the extension of Tunnel Tech North's permit to November 2020 residents are able to complete an on-line survey established by local MP Brendan Clarke-Smith - please see link below:
www.brendanclarkesmith.com/tunneltechnorth
TUNNEL TECH ODOUR REPORTING
It is very important that residents continue to report any odour issues from Tunnel Tech to Bassetlaw District Council (BDC). Misson Parish Council are meeting regularly with BDC to maintain pressure on Tunnel Tech to resolve this issue.If you do not report the incidents, BDC will assume that there is no problem. Help us to help you.
The contacts for any complaints or enquiries regarding Tunnel Tech at Newington are:
Environmental.health@bassetlaw.gov.uk
01909 533 164
CC to:
Bio-filter Change Monday April 11th 2016
Tunnel tech have informed us that they will be starting to change the bio-filter today and will continue over the next few days. There will be an increase in the bad smell unfortunately.
Bassetlaw District Council has a dedicated webpage that contains public information relating to their current involvement with Tunnel Tech (North) Ltd. View this here:
https://www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/everything-else/environmental-health/pollution-control/tunnel-tech.aspx
March 2016
Tunnel Tech North Ltd. have submitted an application to Bassetlaw District Council to Erect Five Buildings Required for The Capture of Process Air (for Treatment of Emissions), The Storage and Handling of Raw Materials and the Handling of Compost During the Phase 1 of the Mushroom Composting Process, Extensions to Existing Buildings for the Composting Process and Additional Acid Scrubbing and Bio-Filtration Plant.
These are major odour abatement procedures that Tunnel Tech are required to complete.
The full details of the planning application can be viewed here:
Bassetlaw District Council Position Statement January 2016
Dear Residents
Following the successful prosecution of Tunnel Tech North for breach of permit conditions in May 2015, Bassetlaw District Council have continued to work with the company and on behalf of the residents to bring about a long term solution to the issue of off-site odour. We are extremely aware that the 2015 prosecution wasn't a solution in itself because it didn't bring about the reduction in odour which is required, however we believe it represented a significant and important milestone in our long-term aim of bringing Tunnel Tech North to account.
Since the conclusion of the legal action, Bassetlaw District Council has taken extensive advice from specialist solicitors and technical advisors on the various methods available to progress this case. The council has met with the solicitors regularly to discuss the legal aspects of the case and engaged in monthly teleconferences to ensure any actions taken are appropriate. The council also has a retained odour consultant who is widely recognised as one of the country’s leading authorities on industrial odour nuisances.
It is with guidance from these learned advisors that the Environmental Health department has been giving consideration to a development scheme put forward by the company which proposes further strategies to control process odour. These plans are of a complex and technical nature and the council is unable to provide much detail at this stage because much of the information has been submitted on a confidential basis. However, we are able to say that the plans involve further covering and enclosing of the working areas and additional extraction of process air to specialised odour abatement technologies. All the additional work requires planning permission so the public consultation associated with the planning process will provide you with the opportunity to review the scheme in detail and comment accordingly. The council anticipate that a planning application will be made within the next few weeks.
We also want to take the opportunity to update you on other works taking place at the site or planned to take place in the near future. The smaller of the two biofilters (the one serving the goody water tanks) has been de-commissioned and all odour from the tanks vented through the acid scrubber and into the large biofilter. This ensures that the odour is drawn under negative pressure through the acid scrubber and large biofilter (using fans) instead of being drawn passively without fan assistance. It’s a much better method of odour capture and abatement and an improvement in the infrastructure which the council were keen to agree to.
There have also been proposals put forward by Tunnel Tech to update the medium in the large biofiler in the near future. This is considered to be routine maintenance (not an improvement) as biofilter medium is known to deteriorate in its efficiency over time. Bassetlaw Council are in dialogue with the Company and our retained consultant as to the best way to go about this maintenance to try to minimise impact on the locality.
In terms of any ongoing odour complaints, I would encourage you to continue to report these to the
Environmental Health Department. You may not always receive a reply to your email straight away due to service demands, but please be reassured that all complaints are logged and investigated where possible. The Environmental Health Team Leader is actively monitoring incoming complaints and has on a number of occasions recently attended the area straight away. On these occasions the odour nuisance has been witnessed at unacceptable levels and at various locations and observation records completed. These observations provide robust substantiation of complaints and extremely important evidence should further legal action be instigated. I would encourage you wherever possible to report odour incidents as close to the event as possible. This gives our investigating officers the best possible chance of attending the area and witnessing the incident themselves.
David Armiger Director Regenrations and Neighbourhoods
Maintenance Update November 2017
There are essentially two major build projects planned or ongoing at the Tunnel Tech site. Both schemes are intended to reduce the impact of off-site odour nuisance and were agreed some time ago by Bassetlaw District Council. The phase of development ongoing currently is the construction of a new building to house and transplant all the odorous raw materials. This is a highly complex build and the timescales for this phase of the development were agreed with Bassetlaw District Council (including a detailed project timetable). We are anticipating this phase of development will be complete by the end of November 2017 and no major delays have been reported. Officers from Environmental Health conduct regular visits to the site to ensure works are progressing and agreed timescales are being adhered to. Tunnel Tech also provide email updates every two weeks accompanied with photographs.
However, this phase of the development alone will not eliminate the odour nuisance entirely (although it is expected to mitigate it). The second phase of development is to fully enclose the yard working area which is another huge development project. This phase is intended to cover all outdoor working areas and extract the odourous gases to an abatement system. It is this part of the project that BDC have no project timetable for because Tunnel Tech have not advanced the details of all the plans and civil engineering infrastructure required. A lot of the ducting required has been installed already but the building itself will take many months to construct. Although I cannot predict exactly, I anticipate this could be anything from 12-18 months.
Bassetlaw District Council are working with Tunnel Tech to forward the plans for the second phase of development. We will shortly be requesting a project timetable so the public can be kept informed of the progress being made,
Amy Ogden
Amy OgdenBSc. (Hons) MCIEH MEHRB
Environmental Health Team Leader
Bassetlaw District Council
Queens Building
Potter Street
Worksop
S80 2AH
Tel: 01909 533533
Tunnel Tech Maintenance Update December 2017
To update on works on site, please see below a selection of photos of the build works to date. Cladding of the main structure has just begun.