BCAG Submit Evidence to Environmental Audit Committee

Air pollution in DAVYHULME Greater Manchester is getting worse.

Davyhulme is part of the township of Urmston, which is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester. Its northern boundary is the Manchester Ship Canal, beyond which is the City of Salford. Running through the middle of Davyhulme is the busy, elevated, M60 motorway. The western side of the M60 is a residential area, whereas the eastern side of the M60 is Trafford Park. This is an industrial estate established in 1902 and more recently a huge retail outlet known as the Trafford Centre has been built. Further on the eastern side of the M60 is Stretford and then Manchester beyond that. Urmston and its shopping area is south of Davyhulme. The M60 motorway and the major roads in this area have been designated an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

As well as air pollution from vehicles along the M60 motorway and visiting the Trafford Centre, there is the threat of a biomass waste incinerator (see below). Davyhulme has a large wastewater treatment facility (reputedly the biggest in Europe) which has planning permission for 5 anaerobic-digestion, biogas engines and a flare stack. Also there is a conference centre in Trafford Park and plans for a hotel which will attract even more vehicles. There are plans for Trafford Quays, a waterside commercial and housing development. Close to the proposed incinerator there is a planning application for a coal bed methane extraction plant. Just across the canal in Salford, there is a rugby stadium and planning permission has been granted for a large retail development and Port Salford. The latter is a container port attracting ships and large barges as well as trains and HGVs. Two miles west of Davyhulme, at Carrington, building has commenced on an 880 megawatt, gas-fired, power station, which already has permission to expand to a 2,150 megawatt unit. Another half mile further west is a recently built paper mill which also has an incinerator for burning waste plastic. Also in Carrington is the site of a former petro-chemicals complex which is a brown-field site awaiting further development.

 

THE BARTON RENEWABLE ENERGY PLANT (aka the DAVYHULME INCINERATOR)

In July 2010, a proposal was announced by a North West development company, Peel Holdings (now the Peel Group) and its subsidiary Peel Energy, to build a biomass waste incinerator, known as Barton Renewable Energy Plant (BREP). This would be located alongside the AQMA, where the M60 motorway travels over the Manchester Ship Canal. Local residents formed the Breathe Clean Air Group (BCAG) to oppose this proposal.

The Breathe Clean Air Group decided to carry out an ambient air quality survey in Davyhulme which was presented to Trafford Council in January 2011. It found:

 

 

Air Pollutant	Concentration	AQMA Limit
Oxides of Nitrogen	342 µg/m3	200 µg/m3
Carbon Monoxide	7.8 mg/m3	10 mg/m3
Sulphur Dioxide	69.5 µg/m3	350 µg/m3
Lead	8.2 ng/m3	250 ng/m3
Chrome	19.9 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Copper	52.2 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Manganese	12.2 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Arsenic	4.9 ng/m3	6 ng/m3
Antimony	2.1 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Cobalt	0.35 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Vanadium	1.1 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Mercury	0.01 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Nickel	2.8 ng/m3	20 ng/m3
Cadmium	1.0 ng/m3	5 ng/m3
Thallium	0.11 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Total Heavy Metals (12)	104.9 ng/m3	No Limit Set
Benzene	Less than 1.4 µg/m3	5 µg/m3
1.3 Butadiene	86.1 µg/m3	2.25 µg/m3
Total Suspended Particulate Matter	6.5 mg/m3	No Limit Set

It can be seen that oxides of nitrogen and 1.3 butadiene were already over the limit and arsenic is approaching the limit. All twelve heavy metals were detected. This caused great concern as the proposed incinerator would produce more oxides of nitrogen and since the waste wood to be burnt would originate from building and demolition sites, it would be impregnated with chromated copper arsenate and increase airborne arsenic levels.

 

TRAFFORD COUNCIL ENGAGE AEA CONSULTANTS

The local planning authority Trafford Council, engaged the services of an environmental consultant, AEA, to advise them. This company’s adviser, Dr Mark Broomfield, was formerly part of the Enviros environmental consultants team that produced the 2004 DEFRA guidance that recommended that modern, well managed incinerators do not pose a threat to human health. Although Trafford Council may have thought that it had acquired the services of an objective expert, they failed to appreciate that Enviros relied on the incineration industry for its livelihood, and consequently had claimed that incinerators were safe. At best this was a conflict of interests and at worst a conspiracy to allow a polluting industry to continue to pollute with the blessing of DEFRA. The advice given by AEA to Trafford Council and its Planning Committee was to accept the planning application.

The adjacent authority, Salford City Council, (which is down wind and in the fall-out zone for the proposed plant’s air pollution) was asked if it had any objections to Barton Renewable Energy Plant. Advice from its consultants was NOT to object, but the Planning Committee realised the potential for ill health impacts to its citizens and decided to object.

It would appear that both consultants ignored research from doctors world-wide who have found that air pollution, including emissions from incinerators, is a serious health hazard, leading to lung disease, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and premature death. Burning wood produces masses of PM2.5 and PM1 particulates. However, there is no UK law that protects people from PM2.5 and PM1 particulates, so it would appear that the consultants ignored these very real dangers, to the advantage of the developer. It is also strange that AEA has found that burning wood produces less carbon dioxide than burning coal, whereas researchers in USA have found that burning wood produces 50% MORE carbon dioxide than burning coal.

(It has also been noticed that Dr Mark Broomfield’s CV includes the fact that he has been successful in gaining over 250 “permissions” from the Environment Agency. This indicates that his main aim is the proliferation of air polluting processes, not the prevention of them).

In November 2011 Trafford Planning Committee unanimously REJECTED the planning application. The twelve committee members spoke against the proposal and a further 12 Councillors spoke against the proposal. The developer appealed against this decision and a Public Inquiry was held in November 2012.

 

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY AND THE ENVIRONMENT PERMIT

The developer, applied to the Environment Agency for an Environmental Permit. Part of the submission included evidence of air quality/pollution from monitoring stations some 5 miles north west of the proposed site (at rural Glazebury in Warrington) and 2 miles east (at Eccles, Salford, where the much less busy M602 runs in a cutting). However, nitrogen dioxide readings from a diffusion tube less than half a mile north east of the site were ignored; BCAG’s ambient air quality report was rejected; and the EA did NOT carry out any independent air monitoring.

The developer included flawed nitrogen dioxide figures from boiler/furnace manufacturers in its submission, which was disputed by BCAG.

It was identified that the proposal would not use Best Available Techniques to combat air pollution. It would use an open grate furnace burning at 850 degrees C (not even a fluidised bed or plasma gasification furnace or a high enough temperature to destroy pollutants); out-dated bag filtration system (no scrubber or electrostatic precipitation); and a chimney stack height only half the height it should be (44.23 metres as opposed to 80 to 100 metres to disperse emissions adequately).

The Breathe Clean Air Group’s submissions were rejected by the Environment Agency and the Environmental Permit was issued 2 weeks prior to the Public Inquiry (in October 2012).

 

PUBLIC INQUIRY AND SECRETARY OF STATE’S DECISION

Before the Public Inquiry, in November 2012, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, called in the decision making.

The granting of the Environmental Permit two weeks before the Public Inquiry effectively scuppered any evidence given about ill-health impacts from air pollution from the proposed incinerator. The fact that the incinerator would be adjacent to an AQMA was not material. The fact that the two local Councils that had rejected the proposed incinerator was discounted.

The decision of the Inspector and the Secretary of State was issued jointly in May 2013. Both allowed the proposed incinerator to proceed.

Trafford Council appealed against the Secretary of State’s decision and a Hearing was held in the High Court in February 2014. Emissions from the incinerator were not allowed to be presented. Trafford Council’s appeal failed and Peel Energy received planning permission.

 

BCAG COMMENCE MONITORING FOR NITROGEN DIOXIDE

The Breathe Clean Air Group has commenced a programme of air monitoring using diffusion tubes to monitor nitrogen dioxide. The monitoring sites are mainly close to the M60 motorway in Davyhulme and Urmston. There are six schools alongside the motorway. Results are measured in µg/m³ and the limit in an AQMA is 40 µg/m³.

 

Location	December 2013	January 2014	February 2014	March 2014	April 2014
Stretford Road	35.78	41.20	–	48.52	–
Lostock Road	48.21	48.68	48.75	49.17	49.90
Barton Road	54.04	55.33	44.29	55.65	58.37
Winchester Road	–	59.69	50.84	–	38.79
Bradfield Road	–	–	38.84	38.79	37.03
Iona Way	–	–	–	43.94	39.61

It will be noticed that most of the readings are above the AQMA limit and rising.

The local authority, Trafford Council, has two air monitoring stations within the borough which are in Stretford and not near the busy M60 motorway. BCAG is holding meetings with the Council to improve air monitoring and to get the Council to tighten up its control of air polluting processes.

 

ACTION REQUIRED TO IMPROVE AIR QUALITY

Air quality is a serious national issue. It has been noted that the EU is to prosecute the UK for violations of air quality.

Steps to be taken should include the following:

1. Environmental consultants, such as AEA, should be investigated to ascertain if they are indeed, prepared to take steps to improve air quality in this country.
2. The Environment Agency should be independent from Government interference and pressure from big business, in order to the protect people from air polluting processes. (The EA has never refused a permit to a waste incinerator and does not carry out unannounced monitoring visits).
3. The Government should reject carbon-based power generation and support solar, wind, tidal, wave and hydro generation. Keep it clean and green.
4. Local authorities should work with local people to improve air quality.
5. Allow local authorities to refuse planning permission to dirty processes.
6. Create a national database of research papers showing the dangers of air pollution and ill-health impacts.
7. Take notice of statistics issued by the National Office of Statistics showing that disease and ill health is greater DOWNWIND of incinerators.
8. Consider the effects of nano-particles on human health.