AGENDA ITEM 4 ( A)
BOROUGH OF POOLE
CANFORD HEATH EAST AND WEST, CREEKMOOR AND OAKDALE
AREA COMMITTEE - 1ST JUNE 2005
Report of Head of Environmental and Consumer Protection Services
SITE ADJACENT VERITY CRESCENT
This report has been compiled in response to the questions and points made
as noted from item 8(a) of the Minutes of the previous meeting dated 13 April
2005 regarding a site adjacent to Verity Crescent.
1.
Concerns about the lack of security and maintenance of the site
Under the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
there is a general duty for the employer (the landowner/contractor) to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his
employment who may be affected (the public) are not thereby exposed
to risks to their health or safety. This duty only extends “so far as is
reasonably practicable”.
This means that the degree of risk in a
particular activity or environment can be balanced against the time,
trouble, cost and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid the risk.
If these are so disproportionate to the risk that it would be quite
unreasonable for the persons concerned to have to incur them to
prevent it, they are not obliged to do so. The greater the risk, the more
likely it is that it is reasonable to go to very substantial expense, trouble
and invention to reduce it. But if the consequences and the extent of a
risk are small, insistence on great expense would not be considered
reasonable.
In this instance, the site has been fenced by the landowner for many
years prior to the recent excavation assessments by WSP taking
place. It is
understood that it has been repeatedly repaired by the landowner
during this time. The reason for the erection of the fence was,
presumably, to prevent unauthorised access onto what is essentially,
private land.
The reason for fencing the site during the recent site investigation work
by WSP was still to prevent unauthorised access, but also to protect
the public from potential hazards such as tripping or falling into trial pits
dug in the ground, and from the potential exposure to substances,
including asbestos, which might be uncovered during this work.
Reasonable measures were taken by the company to ensure that the
public were protected from these hazards so far as is reasonably
practicable.
Measures taken in this regard include :
 trial pits were filled in at the end of the working day;
 asbestos air monitoring was carried out during excavation
assessments, to provide assurances that all excavation works were
undertaken safely and would not release excessive airborne fibres
into the environment;
 controlled excavation procedures were performed on site
throughout the investigation to eliminate any adverse affect to local
residents and site personnel, inc recovering exposed asbestos
material with inert rubble;
 soils samples were analysed in the laboratory for the presence of
asbestos;
 weekly walks over the site still take place today to remove any
asbestos found to have been exposed since WSP left the site in
March 2005;
 a security guard was employed on site 24 hrs/day, during the
duration of the excavation project;
 boundary fencing of the site is maintained, so far as is reasonably
practicable, given the problems of malicious damage which occurs
on a regular basis.
In summary, this Service Unit considers that the owner is complying with its
duties under the Act and does not intend to take any further action with regard
to this matter. Please also see Point 4 below.
2.
Installation of water/gas pipes
Boreholes were installed in order to monitor ground water conditions at
the site beneath the filled material. These boreholes were also install
as gas monitoring boreholes which is a standard practice which
E&CPS would support which allows additional data to be gained on the
conditions at site. Additional information will ensure that any
conclusions drawn about the sites gas regime are as accurate as
possible.
3.
Digging of Holes and delivery of rubble to the site
Holes were dug within the site as part of the previously agreed works –
“the materials recovery trial” of which residents were informed. During
these works asbestos board was uncovered close to the surface in one
section of the site. As a precautionary measure quantities of clean
imported backfill were imported onto site to cover this part of the site
and prevent access to the asbestos. The backfill was a type of rubble
in order to ensure it could not be used to form mounds and ramps as
have previously been noted in that part of the site. The site owners
FPD Savilles are making weekly security visits in order to ensure that
this capping remains intact which to date it has. Air monitoring
undertaken during the works when the asbestos was uncovered have
concluded that “control measures put in place to minimise the potential
for airborne asbestos fibres have resulted in no adverse impacts to
local human health receptor”. After studying the report accompanying
the air monitoring E&CPS are in agreement with this statement.
4.
Development process in relation to potentially contaminated sites –
request that a “private survey” is carried out before development being
considered.
Prior to any redevelopment of the site the applicant will be required to
submit a comprehensive contamination investigation following the
relevant British Standards and legislative requirements in addition to a
full remediation methodology for any remediation required on site.
Government guidance states that the onus for the provision of this
information is on the developer. Any potential developer will need to
satisfy the local authority that unacceptable risk from contamination will
be successfully addressed through remediation. Therefore E&CPS and
the Environment Agency will review any information submitted carefully
to ensure that the work has been undertaken to a satisfactory standard
and that any risks identified during the investigation are sufficiently
mitigated to ensure that the site will not cause significant risk to either
future residents of the site or neighbouring residents and the wider
environment at any stage of any development of the site. E&CPS are
committed to their statutory duty to protect the health of the Borough’s
residents as a result of the presence of any unacceptable
contamination.
5.
Cleaning of Access Roads – Kellaway Road
After being informed by Cllr Moore and local residents that the road
has not been kept in an acceptably clean state E&CPS have been in
contact with transportation services who have agreed to check that the
road is in a suitable state of cleanliness as a result of access to and
from the site. After also contacting Savilles about this matter we have
been informed that they intend to set up a standing order to ensure that
all new contractors on the site are aware that the road has to be
cleaned regularly.
6.
Advance notice to neighbouring residents regarding works on site
Unfortunately there is no legal requirement for Saville’s to inform either
the Borough of Poole or local residents when the majority of
investigative works are taking place on site. We understand however
that Saville’s and their associates have undertaken to deliver a number
of information leaflets to local residents informing them of upcoming
works. We have however attempted to impress onto the land owners
the importance of good communication and have requested that
communication is increased regarding any future works.
7.
Site Cleanliness
There is no legislation which E&CPS is able to enforce regarding site
cleanliness, other than in the event that the condition of the site being
such that it is infested by vermin or has the potential for statutory
nuisance conditions to exist. To our knowledge there is no recent
evidence of either of these conditions occurring on the site.
We have however referred this complaint (and photos of the site
submitted by a local resident) on to Planning in the event that they may
be able to deal with it under the provisions of planning legislation
dealing with land adversely affecting the amenity of the neighbourhood.
Officer Contact:
Margaret Granlund or Jacqui Dicker
(01202 261772)