The Avoncliff Weaver's Mill Planning Application - An Update

North Mill owners have added a new document to their submissions to the planners and the relevant document will be on the council planning documents portal shortly (if it isn't already there).

LINK to the submissions at Wiltshire Council - I hope this one takes less than 6 weeks to make it up there!

The Environment Agency seem to have had cause to back off their own flood risk investigation for the schemes... so much so that they lodged a holding objection with the council  in October (see below)


A few bits and bobs - I noticed that there are two letters about the proposal in the Wiltshire Times :

15th December
R Henderson (Comments open)

1st December
Anthony Battersby  (Comments Closed)

Wiltshire Council planners have been out to the site and had discussions with involved parties.

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As an aside I see that the Environment Agency's flood risk report for Avoncliff hydro schemes is up on the planning portal. If one is interested in that - I would suggest that a close look at the actual numbers quoted and their provenance is in order to get a bit of insight. When the flood risk assessment appraisal was performed North Mill made formal representations to the EA over erroneous assumptions used / made (wrong measurements), no validation was undertaken and the conclusions drawn are in my view quite arbitrary and subjective predicated on instructions...   The EA commissioning manager for this flood risk assessment appraisal - one John Sweeney has disappeared without trace.

It now looks like the EA have had some cause to reconsider the Flood Risk Assessment Appraisal relating to Weaver's Mill and actually lodged a HOLDING OBJECTION (October 2017) which wriggles on the difference between an "appraisal" and an "assessment" - I really do wonder what's prompted that?  - looks remarkably like CYA from here.....

Update: after a bit more reading.....  the November 2017 Johns Associates Flood Risk Assessment   doesn't exactly clear things up as it raises more issues related to environmental assessments  and the timing / sequencing, extents and approval of Environmental Permits consequent from those...  I also see that in the conclusions a claim of "betterment of flood risk" when the previous paragraph states the proposed scheme "will not result in an increased flood risk either upstream or downstream of the site" (make your minds up!) and it also cites / relies on the flawed Mott MacDonald modelling which evidently the EA themselves do not have full confidence in...

The bureaucracy related to Avoncliff hydropower schemes seems like some kind of incestuous perpetual motion machine.