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News story: South West Water fined for polluting Salcombe and Dartmouth

South West Water has been ordered to pay £71,800 in fines and costs for failing to correct faults at sewage treatments works in two of Devon’s most popular coastal towns. The prosecution was brought by the Environment Agency.

Problems at the company’s sewage treatment works in Salcombe and Dartmouth culminated in the sites breaching their environmental permits. Both sites suffer from saline (sea) water infiltration. However, the main issue was failure to manage and maintain processes and infrastructure at the two sites between 2015 and 2016.

Salcombe treatment works serves Salcombe and the nearby village of Malborough. Sewage pipes upstream of the works cross the estuary foreshore and are submerged at high tide. Some of these pipes have faults that allow saline water to enter the sewer network. The treatment process, that involves the use of bacteria to break down effluent, cannot treat excessively salty sewage.

Excessive salinity can damage or kill bacteria used to break down the effluent and prevents the biological treatment process from operating properly. It can prevent suspended solids from breaking down adequately and disrupt the final stage of ultraviolet disinfection before effluent is discharged into the Kingsbridge estuary.

In 2016 South West Water received a report from consultants that said it could not treat the volume of sewage produced in Salcombe to the required standard during the summer months because of the town’s increased summer population.

Between September 2014 and August 2016, Salcombe sewage treatment works breached its permit by repeatedly exceeding the maximum number of non-compliant samples it was allowed.

South West Water is permitted to discharge sewage effluent tainted with saline in an emergency. This normally occurs when saline has be diverted away from the normal treatment process, but the holding tank is full.

In September 2015, the Environment Agency expressed concerns at the frequency of discharges from the saline balancing tank, which holds effluent mixed with saline until it is ready to enter the treatment process. Between 3 February 2015 and 2 May 2015 there had been 36 discharges – one of which lasted 53 hours.

The court heard there were similar seawater ingress and equipment failure problems at Dartmouth sewage treatment works. In January 2015, a valve that keeps seawater out of the sewer was identified as in need of replacement, but wasn’t finally replaced until October 2015. The 8-month delay would have resulted in a worsening saline ingress problem.

Helen Todd of the Environment Agency said:

We use the environmental permitting regime to protect and enhance the environment for current and future generations.

South West Water’s repeated failure to comply with the conditions of its permit at Salcombe and Dartmouth meant that effluent which had not been fully treated was being released into the water environment.

We are working closely with the water company to improve permit compliance and reduce waste water pollution.

Appearing before Exeter Crown Court, South West Water was fined a total of £50,000 and ordered to pay £21,800 costs after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to two offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.

Notes to editor

  • South West Water’s Salcombe Sewage Treatment Works contravened its environmental permit when it exceeded its maximum number of samples permitted to exceed the limit for suspended solids on 7 occasions between 7 August 2014 and 17 August 2016, contrary to Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.
  • South West Water’s Dartmouth Sewage Treatment Works faced two counts of contravening its environmental permit, contrary to Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010. The first charge related to discharges containing more than 60mg/l of suspended solids on 3 occasions between 26 January 2015 and 3 November 2015. The second charge related to discharges exceeding the limits for chemical oxygen demand on 3 occasions between 24 July 2015 and 3 November 2015.

Link: News story: South West Water fined for polluting Salcombe and Dartmouth
Source: Environment Agency

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Press release: Celebrating progress at Ipswich ‘Winerack’ building

Partners gathered at Ipswich Waterfront on Friday 11 May 2018 to celebrate progress to transform the empty Winerack building at the town’s Regatta Quay.

The Homes England deal to bring forward development of the previously stalled development has been shortlisted in this year’s prestigious RESI Awards.

Partners from Homes England, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, Ipswich Vision, R G Carter of Ipswich, Ipswich Wharf Developments and Zenzic Partners, who have advised the developers on financing for the scheme, along with Sandy Martin MP and local authority representatives toured the site to see progress being made to create 150 flats and more than 5,000 square feet of commercial space.

Scaffolding is now in place on the front section of the building and a tower crane has arrived on site this week. The work is due to be completed by the end of 2020.

The building has been in a semi-constructed condition since the financial crash of 2008. Ipswich Wharf Developments Ltd is now taking on development of the building following £15 million investment through Homes England’s Home Building Fund and £5 million from New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) through its Growing Places Fund.

The Homes England’s Home Building Fund deal has been shortlisted in the Deal of the Year category of this year’s RESI Awards, one of seven projects hoping to be recognised as the best residential property deal of 2017. Homes England’s Investments team has also been shortlisted as Residential Financier of the Year in the awards, which celebrate the residential property market and its successes of the past year. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 16 May 2018.

The completed Ipswich project will create 150 homes and more than 5,000 square feet of commercial space and will support 56 new jobs. It is a key development in the Ipswich Vision project, which brings together local partners to work towards a single vision for the regeneration of Ipswich town centre.

Nick Walkley, Chief Executive Officer for Homes England, said: “At Homes England we’re using our finance, land and expertise to get new homes built in ambitious places like Ipswich. The Winerack is a really important example of how government is prepared to intervene to unblock stalled developments and help people and businesses to thrive. It’s great to see the real progress now being made to finish the project and help spur the regeneration of the town centre.”

Chris Starkie, Chief Executive of New Anglia LEP, said: “We are pleased to see work progressing on the Winerack. This project marks a step forward in the transformation of this part of Ipswich and it will help to unlock new investment and development opportunities.”

John Howard from Ipswich Wharf Developments said: “At long last, we’re delighted to see the construction of the Winerack now fully under way. The Ipswich Marina is the crown jewel of Ipswich and completing this building will transform the skyline of the harbour and provide another 150 homes in this stunning location. We would like to thank all our advisers, Homes England, the New Anglia LEP, the Local Council and Carters for working with us to bring this project to fruition. We look forward to welcoming some new home owners to the completed building in 2020!”

Nadine Buckland of Zenzic Partners said: “The Winerack was a great transaction to be involved with. It was a very innovative financing structure with Homes England and the LEP and it’s great to see it translate into delivery of what will be a fantastic scheme.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Homes England

Homes England is the new housing delivery organisation that has been created to adopt a more commercial approach to respond to the long term housing challenges facing this country. The new, expanded agency will play a far bigger role in investing in supply and intervening in the market to help deliver 300,000 homes a year by the middle of the next decade.

Homes England will act differently from its predecessor, bringing together money, land, expertise and planning and compulsory purchase powers to accelerate the supply of new homes and address affordability issues in areas of highest demand.

For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/homes-england.

The Home Building Fund is a flexible source of funding administered by Homes England on behalf of government. The Fund provides:
• Development finance – loan funding to meet the development costs of building homes for sale or rent
• Infrastructure finance – loan funding for site preparation and the infrastructure needed to enable housing to progress and to prepare land for development

New Anglia LEP Growing Places Fund

New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership’s Growing Places Fund provides loan-funding to help kick-start and support development projects across Suffolk and Norfolk.

From innovation centres that will help launch new start-ups to transforming empty land into new homes and commercial premises, the Fund provides infrastructure loan funding to projects that might otherwise have stalled or not started at all.

Ipswich Vision

Ipswich Vision is a partnership project which brings together key organisations to create the successful county town centre which Ipswich and Suffolk expect and deserve through supporting regeneration, better transport, shopping and improvements to public spaces and public buildings.

Ipswich Vision is a partnership between Suffolk County Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Ipswich Central, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, University of Suffolk, Ben Gummer MP and Suffolk Chamber of Commerce in Greater Ipswich.

Link: Press release: Celebrating progress at Ipswich ‘Winerack’ building
Source: Gov Press Releases

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Press release: New gold-standard GCSEs prepare pupils for careers Britain needs

  • This week marks the start of exam season, where a further 20 new GCSEs will be sat for the first time
  • The reformed qualifications will help pupils progress into further education, higher education and employment says the CBI

Hundreds of thousands of pupils are preparing to take new, more rigorous GCSE exams this week, which are on a par with the best performing education systems in the world, the School Standards Minister announced today.

The gold-standard qualifications for 20 new GCSEs – including the sciences, French, German, Spanish, history and geography – have been designed with employers in mind. These qualifications are underpinned by more rigorous content, which has been welcomed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) for preparing pupils for future careers in the industries that Britain needs. The new science GCSEs now includes space physics and the human genome and the new Computer Science GCSE now includes greater focus on programming.

Schools Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

These more rigorous, gold-standard GCSEs are helping to nurture the next generation of scientists, linguists and historians. Whatever pupils want to do with their lives, these qualifications will prepare them for future success and help deliver the skills Britain needs to be fit for the future.

Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers, education standards are rising in our schools and last year, teachers and pupils responded well to the new English and maths exams. I wish pupils all the very best as they prepare to sit these exams and I look forward to celebrating their success in the summer.

The start of these exams follows the recent news of funding to train up to 8000 existing computing teachers to teach the new GCSE – that is enough to ensure every secondary school in England has a teacher who can support pupils to succeed.

The new GCSEs will be graded 9 to 1, with 9 being the top grade to allow more differentiation between the highest performing pupils and so that employers can identify the new, more rigorous qualifications.

It builds on the success of last year’s changes to GCSE maths and English which saw 59.1 per cent of pupils achieving a grade 4 or above.

Standards are rising in schools thanks to these reforms and the hard work of teachers, which has resulted in 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools than 2010.

The government’s Industrial Strategy highlighted a shortage of STEM skills. There is a need to increase number of people able to study for STEM degrees to support the current economy and its growth. The reforms to GCSEs and A levels, as well as these teaching programmes are just two of the ways this is being achieved.

Link: Press release: New gold-standard GCSEs prepare pupils for careers Britain needs
Source: Gov Press Releases