County council planners have approved plans to extend the chimney of a Newhaven industrial plant — a move officers said would help address complaints around its odour.
On Wednesday (August 14), East Sussex County Council’s planning committee approved a 20-metre extension to a chimney stack at an asphalt plant operated by FM Conway in North Quay Road.
Before making its decision, the committee heard from both the applicant and the council’s own planning officers who said the extension would aid dispersal and lower the concentration of pollutants released from the plant, helping to address complaints around its odour.
Some were sceptical of this view, however, with a group of residents at the meeting arguing in favour of more comprehensive changes.
Among those to raise these concerns was Denton Drive resident Marek Palme, who pointed to an air quality assessment submitted by the applicant.
Mr Palme said: “The only areas that would notice a tangible improvement are Denton Island, the Avis industrial estate, the A259 around Newhaven Swing Bridge and the asphalt plant itself, where the pollution will be close to zero. This seems to be the wrong priority. The pollutants that previously would have settled on the site and industrial estate are dispersed over residential areas instead.
“Conway have deployed state-of-the-art filtration technology in other plants, so there is no excuse for polluting us and our environment. The plant should never have been allowed to operate with simple back-filtration, as it is only filtering dust and not the toxic chemicals and odours.”
Similar concerns were raised by Lewes District councillor Paul Keene (Green), who urged the committee to either refuse or defer the scheme in hopes of the applicant coming back with more comprehensive plans which include an improved filtration system.
George Massingham, FM Conway’s agent, took a different view. He said: “Emissions from the site are entirely compliant with the terms of the environmental permit, but this application has been submitted to address complaints made by local residents.
“The proposal is directly as a consequence of complaints made by local residents concerning odour and the proposed stack extension is the most effective solution to address these matters.”
Ultimately, the committee opted to approve the chimney extension, with several committee members noting stating a view on how the propsoals would represent an improvement when compared to current situation.
Proposing approval, Hastings councillor Godfrey Daniel (Lab) said: “If we were to turn this down, things aren’t going to get better. It would be as it is probably.”
He added: “What we have before us is the stack. The need for the stack is to try to reduce emissions/odour. We have independent consultants … who actually recognise and agree with that as well.
“Personally I can see no actual problems with the planning permission for this and I will move the recommendation on that basis.”
Committee chairman Tom Liddiard (Con) made a similar argument. He also noted how the committee expected to consider a further application concerning the site in the ‘relatively near future’ and would bear in mind the concerns raised by residents at that time.
It is unclear what proposals Cllr Liddiard was referring to, as there does not appear to be a reference to future plans in the report considered by the committee, nor any live application listed on the council’s website.
The existing stack is already 20-metres tall from ground level, although most of it is not visible due to the surrounding plant. The extension would result in a final height of 40 metres from ground level, of which 27 metres would stand above the plant.
While planning officers note this would be more visible, they said this extension would not be out-of-keeping with the area due to its industrial surroundings.
