LETTER RECEIVED FROM GORDON KENNEDY

Letter received from sender Gordon Kennedy regarding Autoval site.

Several residents of South Fambridge have recently contacted the Save South Fambridge Facebook and blog page asking questions about a letter received from a Gordon Kennedy about the site owned by Autoval. (the address on the return envelope is apparently registered to Autoval). There seems to be concerns about this letter in light of the history of this site.  If you are concerned about what to do about it and require further advice on this letter please contact Janice Smith on the following email:

janicesmith2001@yahoo.co.uk

Thank you

Rochford District Council issue Enforcement Notice on Autoval LTD

Autoval Ltd 

ENFORCEMENT/BREACH OF CONDITIONS NOTICES ISSUED

On 21st September 2015 Autoval Limited were issued with the following formal Notices by Rochford District Council in respect of the site formerly known as the Former Shellfish Packing Station, South Fambridge:

(Click to View)

1. ENFORCEMENT NOTICE FOR BREACH OF PLANNING CONTROL
2. BREACH OF CONDITION NOTICE - 99/00705/FUL
3. BREACH OF CONDITION NOTICE - 99/00339/COU

The deadline for compliance is 19th October 2015.

As residents and visitors you are welcome to log a daily diary of breaches from now until 19th October 2015 and beyond to assist the Council in ensuring compliance.

A short summary of the breaches are listed below (descriptions assume you are facing the main site gate): Please read notices above for full details of breaches.

1. Only the long Southern main building is permitted for use under 99/00339/COU. The Northern building at the back of the site and the extensions to the left are not permitted for storage or use.
2. No outside storage of any kind except for the parking of vehicles immediately to the left inside of the main gate whereby parking for x 13 vehicles is permitted along the left flank (staff and customer parking. No other outside storage on any other part of the site is permitted other than boats or a small mobile crane.  Current breaches include Scrap metal, JCB, Back of Truck used for storage, tyres, Heras fencing, wood, low loader trucks.  (there is some confusion over the term vehicle parking and what appears to be the storage of end of life vehicles in the parking bays...the wording of the planning consent is for customer and staff parking. As such damaged vehicles which are  brought on low-loaders and clearly have a large amount of damage could be considered as storage. logging data to that effect may be useful)
3. No use of plant/machinery (incl power tools) outside the permitted hours of: 8am to 6pm on any day.
4. No deliveries by car or light van shall be received or despatched from the site outside the permitted hours of : 8am to 6pm on any day, and no deliveries by lorry, tractor or any other type of vehicles, received or despatched outside hours of 8am till 6pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 12pm Saturday or any time on Sundays or Bank Holidays.

A log of what is viewed onsite each day up to 19th October and beyond would be helpful in ensuring compliance. A notice of where to hand this information in will follow shortly. 

Also the other issues are :

1. The gate being left unlocked and open allowing vehicles to speed onto site without slowing or stopping.
2. Autoval hold a U13 certificate which allows them to have on site only x 2 vehicles ready for dismantling.  

Both of these issues have been flagged up with the appropriate authorities and a daily log of these events would also be helpful.

Thank you for your assistance. Photos will appear on the Save South Fambridge facebook page tomorrow.

THIS IS SERIOUS!!! and it affects you.

There is something you should know about what is happening in South Fambridge....and it Could potentially affect you!

(If you are a non resident of Fambridge read the text below in blue as this does potentially affect you and planning decisions which may have contributed to the horrendous traffic congestion we see today in South Essex)

There have been several residents keeping a close eye on the comings and goings at the site of the Former Shellfish packing station which is owned and used by Autoval Limited and particularly since the business resumed operations as a Car Breakers Yard in early January 2015.

Here is what you don't know and really should:-

• A comprehensive steady flow of emails providing evidence of numerous breaches of legally binding conditions relating to that site have been issued since the beginning of January 2015 to the Enforcement officer Yvonne Dunn at Rochford District Council during the course of these emails there have been few responses from Yvonne and on occasions those responses have been contradictory of the site Planning consent thus allowing a number of serious issues to continue.  

         The longstanding breaches are as follows:

1. The JCB on site without permission
2. End of Life vehicles being stored in the open in the area intended as customer and staff parking.
3. Transit truck back part only being stored on site and used as additional storage facility.
4. Scrap metal being stored at the back of the site to the east and the occasional vehicle.
5. Scrap being stored out in the open in the turning zone which should remain free of obstruction at all times.
6. The bunded oil tank on site without permission
7. The unlawful use of the the northern building and side annex which are being used at storage
8. Out of permitted hours deliveries including very early morning and very late at night.
9. Out of permitted hours use of power tools.
10. Persons staying overnight on the site.

 (Photographs will be shown on the Save South Fambridge Facebook page to illustrate the above, the council know their responsibilities  but  are ignoring the evidence and are not upholding the planning consent in place which clearly is intended to preserve the visual aspects of this site in relation to the sensitive location.)

• During the period when Autoval submitted 2 planning applications, relating to this site, a serious incidence of negligence was uncovered by a resident with regard to the Highways consultations and a formal complaint was lodged to the Chief executive, Mr Rodney Bass of the Highways at Essex County Council in April 2014, This document ( 60 +  pages) was submitted by the resident to  MP Mr Mark Francois on 24th March 2014 who in turn forwarded this onto Mr Rodney Bass Chief Executive of Essex County Council.  A letter of confirmation of receipt was received from Essex County Council dated 8th April and this was forwarded onto the complainant via a letter from PA to Mark Francois, Adele Jacquin dated 9th April 2014 and nothing else has been received by the complainant from either Mr Francois or Mr Bass.  Full knowledge of this lays at the door of Essex County Council Highways and our MP and the serious safety issues currently relating to this site as a consequence remain today! The question has been asked by more and more people...Who will take responsibility in the event of injury or death? The gate is constantly open allowing Autoval vehicles to race down the hill and onto the site. It appears they often hurry onto site in a bid not to be photographed!?

• Also during and after the Committee Decision meeting for the planning Application 13/00370/FUL one particular District Councillor Tracy Capon expressed verbally the annoyance of how the Highways continuously fail to take their responsibility to consult seriously. She also followed this up in writing to a resident and communicated the following " thank you for your email - very interesting reading and something many of us have been saying for years-Highways make comments without any knowledge of a site."

          As a result of this email a complaint email from the resident was issued to a number of people   including the following:

• Phil Capon (Chairman of the decision committee at the time)
• Tracy Capon 
• Terry Cutmore 
• Mark Francoise
• Mike Stranks
• Shaun Scrutton

 Apparently not one person responded to the resident in relation to this complaint. A meeting was promised by the Councillor Tracy Capon but never occurred despite many attempts by the resident to try to meet then all went very quiet! The complainant found that the Highways Authority quite often wrote "no Comment" or "de-minumis" as opposed to actually reviewing the site and conducting appropriate consultation and also found a member staff who blatantly lied on the phone!

• This year the Environment Agency have been given substantial evidence of Autoval conducting their business without the appropriate waste/environmental license and evidence of the de-pollution of these vehicles on the site which is prohibited.  The response from the Environment Agency was to confirm they would not be visiting the site as they do not have enough staff and do not have enough funding to look into this, however they confirmed they would write a letter to Autoval advising they would need to comply with their L13 license which allows them to have x2 cars on site at any one time. (this license is intended as a guide for refurbishment of a classic car for example) After confirming to the Environment Agency there are regularly at least x 10 and sometimes x 20 vehicles on site they said sorry the L13 gives them no revenue so they will not be acting on it! The environment Agency have also been advised of the possibility of contamination on the site perimeter when soil has been turned by a JCB and months later several boundary conifer trees have since died. It seems that being adjacent to a river has rung no alarm bells! The question is " will your property be covered by your insurance company in the event of a catastrophic field fire or explosion as a result of negligence of Autoval and the flammable liquids being present on site illegally especially with the Rochford District Council and the Environment Agency knowing there is a RISK and do Autoval have public liability insurance in place? "    This is not an impossibility... there are risks with the type of business practice and this is where procedures should be in place to limit or avoid such events.  There was a fire at Autovals previous site in Rayleigh 2 weeks after their planning application was refused in September 2013.

•  The police have been made aware of a number of incidents regarding the activities of Autoval (cars of visitors being locked in as the gate was previously left open and then padlocked and the incident of the visitors car being moved by Autovals forklift truck up the road) Police 101 were made aware of these incidents but no action was taken or acted upon.  The local community police officer PC Michelle Rawson is aware of the site and the activities of Autoval and has asked to be kept informed of any future incidents.

 SO WHAT NOW????.....NOBODY IS LISTENING.... PEOPLE WORKING IN THE AUTHORITIES, PAID TO DO THEIR JOB ARE NOT DOING IT, OTHERS SEEM TO HAVE CLOSED RANKS  AND ARE HIDING....WHO WILL SUFFER? IF YOU THINK IT LOOKS BAD NOW WAIT A YEAR AND YOU WILL BE SHOCKED!!   YOU ARE TAX PAYERS AND SHOULD DEMAND TO BE SERVED BY YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL.  THEY ARE IGNORING THE PROBLEM DESPITE BEING FULLY AWARE OF THE SITUATION!

THIS IS TIME FOR YOU TO BE AGAIN INVOLVED....HAVE YOUR SAY AND DEMAND ACTION!!!! 

The list at the top shows the breaches and if these continue and you have other concerns such a speeding vehicles entering the site/open gate/out of hours deliveries, excessive noise early morning or late at night, unusual night time movements on the site you can email the Enforcement Officer Yvonne Dunn on the following email address:  Yvonne.Dunn@Rochford.gov.uk

QUOTE IN THE SUBJECT BOX: " Autoval, South Fambridge, DATE & TIME if specific incident

 Clearly just a few voices are not enough!

Copies of further correspondence and photographs will follow shortly.

 

New Application for FOOT FERRY Car Park 15/00505/FUL

New Application for FOOT FERRY CAR PARK

A new application has been submitted to Rochford District Council for a CAR PARK to the East of the Former Shellfish Packing Station (Autoval site).

As is always the way this has been submitted during the holiday season for strategic purposes in order to lesson the public responses.

Time is short so get your comments into the Rochford District council as soon as possible.  Although the date of expiry for consultation is 18th August 2015 if you are away on holiday or have not had enough time to respond you may still submit your responses as the Planning officer is flexible it appears on both the applicants representations and therefore should be iro the neighbour contributions. (Responses prior to the expiry date is preferred if at all possible.)

Click here for a direct link to the Rochford District Council Planning site for application 15/00505/FUL. Press the Click here to submit your comments button at the top of the page. (you can copy and paste your comments from the last application if your views are unchanged and are relevant.)

The previous application was refused on the basis of the possibility of suitable habitat for gold crested newts and other habitats and further ecological surveys were required. On this basis extensive and complete surveys would be advisable in order to ascertain that any development on this land would have no detrimental effect.  Your consultations and views on the current application are required in order to ensure this happens and is not overlooked.

Thank you.  

South Fambridge SOLAR FARM Planning application APPROVED!

Just to keep you in the loop ....the planning application for the South Fambridge SOLAR FARM has been APPROVED.  Despite the Planning officers recommendations that this be rejected specifically in the interests of the protection of the Greenbelt and the Crouch Valley Protection belt the District Councillors have voted against the officers advice. Here is an extract of the decision notice:

"In this case and in consideration of officer advice, members came to a different view in favour of supporting
the application.  In contrast to the view of officers, members gave weight to the limitations of Grade III grazing agricultural land together with the availability to graze livestock alongside the development approved.
..... Members found also that the appearance to the development is a matter of taste and subjective in appearance...."

This Planning consent may set a precedent for this type of commercial venture for the future on this type of land in the area. If you enjoy living in this rural, natural, unspoilt setting, which has very specific Planning Policies to protect from future commercial development with very good reason please make yourself aware of how this development may sprawl and grow.

Full details of the application can be found here

Faster Broadband for South Fambridge.....YOUR HELP URGENTLY NEEDED!!

Thank you Ronnie Weston for spearheading a campaign to get faster Broadband in South Fambridge.  It would appear that as South Fambridge is such a small hamlet we have fallen between the cracks and left off the plans for the roll out of Fibre Optic broadband. 

Please visit Ronnies Blog http://fibreforsouthfambridge.blogspot.co.uk/ where all the latest up-dates will appear and details on how you can get involved. See post dated 22nd February 15 (in particular) where you need to "REGISTER YOUR INTEREST" ......(the more support...the more chance South Fambridge will get faster broadband).

REMEMBER....WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT AND INVOLVEMENT, SOUTH FAMBRIDGE IS NOT BEING GIVEN THE SAME OPPORTUNITY AS OTHER RURAL LOCATIONS WHICH ARE PART OF THE GOVERNMENTS PLANS.

Thanks you for your support and keep tabs on Ronnies blog for up-dates.

FOOT FERRY planning Application 14/00678/FUL - UP-DATE

The deadline for comments for those who received Consultation letters from Rochford District Council informing them of the above application has now passed.  (30th October 2014)

HOWEVER:

Comments/objections can still be submitted to the Rochford District Council Planning office withing 21 days of the Yellow Site notification date which was 18th October 2014 and therefore you can still have your say on this Planning Application where the DEADLINE DATE is:     7th  NOVEMBER 2014

Click on the following link for all the Application/documents/info: 14/00678/FUL