Request
The original planning application for the Redrow development (20/00419) on Betteshanger Road was approved subject to Condition 28 (20/00419/N) which required a scheme for the disposal of foul sewage to be approved and implemented before any dwellings were to be occupied. Consultation on this condition was limited to Southern Water and the Environment Agency.
The developer initially proposed building a replacement sewage treatment plant (23/00665) and this was approved on 23 September 2023. However, soon after on 24 November 2023, DDC Planning approved the lesser requirements of Condition 28 (20/00419/N) allowing an upgrade of the existing system. In any event, neither proposal has been implemented and yet some of the houses have already been occupied for over a year.
In the consultation for the proposed new sewage plant (23/00665) there was a disagreement between Southern Water and the Environment Agency as to where the treated effluent goes after it is pumped from the treatment site. To aggravate this situation, the Environment Agency, which for years had been analysing the treated effluent every three months, suddenly stopped doing these analyses around the time that the houses started being occupied!
The information that I am hereby requesting is (a) the precise details of where the treated effluent goes after it is pumped from the treatment works on Betteshanger Road, (b) details of any further treatment, and (c) the final location where it is ultimately discharged into the environment.
Response
The 'Design Statement' (received on 30 May 2023) for 23/00665 sets out that "The final effluent discharged from the reactors, flows through a sample chamber prior to discharging to the Penfield Sewer".