Monday 23rd May 2022.
A large group of concerned local people packed the Combe St Nicholas Village Hall last night.
They had come to talk about raised concerns regarding a recent planning application to site a large slurry lagoon above the village.
Some of the comments that came out at last night’s Parish Council Meeting in relation to the erection of an earth banked lagoon on land at Combe St Nicholas make for interesting reading and many felt raised a lot of salient points, such as;
- The feasibility report notes the current storage facilities have not been emptied which alludes to a poor existing slurry management plan. (The applicant has a well-documented past history of poor slurry storage management at Brocole Lane which is being monitored by the EA)
- It would appear from the data provided in the feasibility study that the farm requires a comprehensive slurry management plan to ensure its current storage systems are effectively utilised. If the current stores are not being managed and thus have not been emptied with storage capacity compromised then a further lagoon is only a short-term fix not a working solution.
- The proposed site is on an outlying field own by Mr Dyer, this is the only parcel of land in his control in the immediate area. A parcel of the surrounding land is associated with the business but this not owned and therefore its use to the business is not future proof. If the land becomes unavailable to the business, then the lagoons management would be severely challenged.
- While the site is not in an NVZ its does form part of the Isle catchment that feeds the levels where phosphates levels are having a negative impact. If Phosphorus(P) and Potassium(K) levels are not monitored and slurry application are not adjusted accordingly, then slurry spread in this catchment will impact on the levels. Is the land area available and guaranteed to ensure its useful and safe disposal? (A full 6000 cubic meter store contains 6,000,000 litres of slurry. Recommended spring application rates are approximately 33,000 l/ha (3,000gall/acre) or to put another way, 182ha (449acres) would be required to empty a store of this size in a single spring application.)
- There has been no consultation with any of the neighbouring householder or land owners regarding its siting and no pre-application soil testing. The area is predominately a thin topsoil over chalk, and despite its elevation local knowledge suggest many springs in the locality. There are concerns over its containment and resulting ecological and environmental impact.
- The proposer farms some distance away, where they have slurry lagoons on their own premises. They also manage another lagoon in the village which leaks on to a footpath and contaminated the environment. Their ability to manage a larger lagoon with any degree of competence is seriously in doubt.
Click on this link to find out more:
Application No: 22/00932/FUL. Land Os 0005 Greenway Lane Combe St Nicholas Chard Somerset. Erection of an earth banked slurry lagoon.
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