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Bye Bye High Street
NOTE: This Petition was closed at 12:00am on 19th March 2010 for submission of 409 signatures to Dorset County Council. Additional signatures and comments may still be made.
Friends of Coatham Common
Congratulations - after 6 years of struggle against a hellbent and belligerent council, the people and common sense have won at last! Redcar & Cleveland Council's 'botched' housing development that has cost the tax payer around £4m is dead. The Supreme Court ruled that the common is now a protected village green and the fences are being taken down! It can be done! We recommend you watch the VIDEO
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Related WEB Links:
Contact Waitrose
KWTG Petition
Keep Wimborne Town Green
The Kingsgate Scandal
The Palm Oil Disgrace
Waitrose Food-Miles Shame
Dorset Wildlife Trust
Clone Town Britain
Wimborne Town Council News
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This Is Dorset
Keep Wimborne Green
Related Documents: (pdf)
Responses to Petition (to date)
Several Opinion Surveys
Town Green Application
Wimborne Conservation Area
Environmental Impact Assessment
Waitrose Planning Agreement (106)
River Stour Flood Planning
Rivers on the Edge Video:
(Click for full screen)
Watch this Video - and as you watch it, think about the 8 councillors who supported the supermarket application, think about the loss of our green space, think about Waitrose and the John Lewis Partnership, their dividends and their pretensions to being 'green'.
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Potential For Pollution
We are concerned that the Waitrose development on Hanham's Ground in Wimborne may cause pollution of the water table and thence the River Allen chalk stream, and its fragile ecological balance.
We accordingly sent the letter below to the Environment Agency, who have acknowledged our concerns, but have yet tell us the result of their investigations. Keep watching these pages for further news...
The concerns are of the possible release of dioxins, furans, lead, mercury and other heavy metals, oil, asbestos and rubber dusts, being released into the chalk substrate and thence into the River Allen.
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To: The Environment Agency, Blandford
Date: 18 February 2010
Dear Michael Holm,
This is a copy of a letter and report that I have mailed to you in the post.
I am a private citizen of Dorset who is campaigning against the new Waitrose Store development on the banks of the River Allen in the centre of Wimborne.
I and many others, wish this inappropriate development to be terminated and for the site to be reinstated for public use as a Town Green, in accordance with the Dorset County Council Application Ref: SLM/E103262 published in the Bournemouth Echo on 5 February 2010.
In studying the Environmental Impact Assessment prepared on behalf of Waitrose by Messrs Barton Wilmore, my attention was drawn to Section 11.00, 'Drainage and Flooding'. I have also been reading the British Geological Survey Baseline Report into the Chalks of Dorset, and clearly the hydrogeology of the upper chalk formations in the Wimborne area is highly complex.
The Environmental Statement has proposed a surface water drainage tank situated beneath the site, in order to store surface water and to mitigate the environmental risk to acceptable levels. They fail to state what these 'Acceptable Levels' might be.
Nor do they consider the following aspects, which, as an engineer and a resident, I believe are extremely important:
- Tank Capacities and Location
They have not specified the capacity and head of this storage tank(s), the pumping method and daily capacity, and what happens in the event of overflow. The storage tanks should have sufficient capacity to handle abnormal rainfall situations, when the water level in the Allen is elevated above normal. I note that the extent of the drained area is over 6000 square metres. Whilst 279mm of rain fell on Martinstown, Dorset on one day in 1955, a less extreme rainfall event of 100mm in 24 hours, would require a storage/pumping capacity of 600,000 litres per day.
- Tank Design and Construction
The design and materials of construction of the tank(s) is not specified. Their design should ensure that the water tank construction is of materials that will itself not cause pollution. It has recently been brought to my attention that foundations and possibly water tanks have been constructed from concrete that incorporates Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA). As I am sure you are aware, the use of this material in environmentally sensitive areas is highly controversial to say the least, and associated with reports of dioxins, furans and heavy metals leaching from concrete structures incorporating IBA. It should be remembered that IBA is a waste product from power stations and its incorporation in concrete is a convenient method of waste disposal.
- Method of Filtration
Details of the filtration method have not been specified. It is felt to be important that these water filters must reduce contamination to a quality that is ecologically safe for the wildlife in the Allen. This, according to the Dorset Wildlife Trust, is a chalk stream which is a Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Habitat.
- Potential Contaminants and Toxins
The Environmental Statement has failed to mention the difficulties presented in removing contaminants and toxins to levels that are harmless to the ecology of the River Allen. If the surface water has been in contact with IBA loaded concrete, then it may contain harmful levels of dioxins, furans, and several heavy metals. Water runoff from the car parks will contain the usual pollutants including oil, lead, rubber and asbestos particulates. Water runoff from the store loading bay areas may also contain detergents and numerous organic waste solutions.
- Filtration System Maintenance
Again, the Report has failed to mention the existence of a planned programme of maintenance. This would be essential to ensure that the performance of the filters remains effective throughout the lifetime of the store. Filtrates must be removed periodically and safely from the site.
- Performance and Monitoring
The Report again fails to mention how Waitrose will implement a programme to monitor wastewater outflows into the River Allen, and also into the chalk aquifer. Due to the porosity of the chalk underlying Wimborne, it must be assumed that all water falling on Hanham's Field, whether filtered of not, will find its way into the water table and thence into the river systems and aquifer. Water samples must be taken regularly and subjected to laboratory analysis in order to confirm that their systems are functioning correctly.
We currently have a scenario of advanced work on the site, with much mud, groundwork and earthmoving taking place, plus heavy rainfall. I am concerned that pollution is already an issue on this site, and look forward to your investigating the salient facts.
Regards,
John Baxendale
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