18th October 2007
Dear residents of Oakwood, Anick and Beaufront Woodhead,
This survey is limited to those residents of Oakwood and Anick who are located within sight or sound of, and are affected in some way by, the new Egger developments.
As a result of the community effort to make our voices heard about the Land Allocation proposals, a small number of people who feel particularly affronted by the outcome of the recent Egger developments and let down by Tynedale Council's planning process have loosely formed a group to co-ordinate community involvement. The purpose of this letter is to try and ascertain whether this group has or could have your support and whether you would wish that the group be seen as representing the community. If this were to be the case then it is important that we make it clear what our current aspirations are.
We appreciate that Egger are unlikely to cease trading and go away and will probably be our neighbours for many years to come. However, we are angry, and are choosing to transform that into action that could help improve the current situation . We believe that the best process would be to firmly and persistently ensure that both Egger and Tynedale District Council are aware that this community has concerns for its future and to use the community as a means of exerting pressure on the council to ensure that both parties are doing what they are supposed to be doing. At this stage it is mostly a monitoring and reporting exercise which may include some lobbying.
In Egger's case we would expect to see that they are complying with all planning and environmental conditions, and any other conditions imposed by other statutory authorities. In Tynedale Council's case we would expect to see that they are controlling Egger's activities in proper and publicly transparent manner. We would expect that both Egger and the Council would be prepared to listen and cooperate. Our long-term objective would be to create an atmosphere of mutual co-operation between the community and Egger, and the protection of this environment as an overall goal.
We have already seen that the actions of a small part of the community can have a degree of success. After constant complaining to both the company and the Council, Egger were persuaded to significantly reduce the amount of lighting across the plant, and to agree that full lighting would only be implemented in the case of an emergency.
Furthermore, assured, steady pressure on the Council and Egger is now beginning to pay dividends with the noise problem. Egger has addressed the issue of impact noise and although the problem is not solved, there are improvements. They are aware too of the impact on residents of the vibration problem and are working with their suppliers and contractors to solve it.
Once these issues are sorted it will still be necessary to make sure that the Council (or its successor) is continuing to monitor and enforce the situation. And… there are still issues around the visual intrusion of the buildings in a rural landscape and people have complained about air pollution.
We are proposing to dedicate part of the Sandhoe Community web site to store and provide information on progress and the monitoring activities. We would like to be able to communicate with all those who offer their support by email - although we know that there will be a small number of people who will prefer a letter. The web pages will be accessible only by those who have registered and you will be able to add your own comments and data as you wish.
In this spirit we feel that it would be useful to know how many residents in the community are similarly affected and would be prepared to support this long-term campaign. Please complete the form below and return it to one of the signatories, either in the form of a paper copy or by email. Or, if you would rather, just email or phone one of us letting us know whether you are interested or not.
Ian Winkworth Peter Rodger John Halliday
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Ian Winkworth
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Peter Rodger
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John Halliday
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Name:
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Address:
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Telephone:
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Email:
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I am concerned about the following and am prepared to support the campaign. [Please mark as appropriate]
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Issue
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I am affected
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I am concerned
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I will offer active support
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I will offer passive support
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Impact noise
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Vibration
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General noise levels
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Visual impact
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Traffic increase & implications
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Air quality
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Other [please state]
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