(a)

the main building was substantially complete; work was now taking place on external roads and finishes;

(b)

the main equipment and technology had been installed and tested; the focus was now upon the lead up to commissioning;

(c)

two community areas had been brought back into use, Blackies Wood and a play park at Savage Road;

(d)

the project had experienced a further delay since the joint partnership last met in April, the project was 14 weeks behind the programme agreed in February 2011 albeit MVV construction started on site around 13 weeks behind schedule. The first delivery of waste was scheduled for December 2014;

(e)

the incinerator bottom ash would be exported from the Plymouth Docks to Holland for engineering purposes on a short term basis.

 (a)

the main cladding to the exterior of the building was substantially complete;

(b)

the admin building was well advanced and work on the weighbridge was underway;

(c)

electrical wiring was in the process of being installed and tested;

(d)

the public spaces at Savage Road and Blackies Wood were complete and open to users;

(e)

there was currently a 14 week delay on site (refer to minute 69 above);

(f)

the first delivery of waste was planned for December 2014 at which point 100% of the South West Devon Waste Partnership’s waste would be diverted to this facility;

(g)

the planned full service commencement was scheduled for March 2015; by this stage commissioning of the facility would be complete;

(h)

since the last committee meeting there has been only one planning compliance issue which related to the overrunning of agreed working hours on site; the was self-monitored by MVV and self-corrected;

(i)

two formal complaints had been submitted to MVV including plastic sheeting flapping overnight causing a disturbance and a query relating to the access to Blackies Wood; both issues SWDWP understood had been actioned by MVV and were concluded;

(j)

preoperational planning and environmental permit conditions were being discharged;

(k)

an environmental permit for IBA at Victoria Wharf had been issued;

(l)

the installation of the building ribs had commenced along with the external roads and fencing; the rib lighting was also being installed;

(m)

the architectural wrapping to the facility was well advanced.

(a)

she had been responding to media enquiries in relation to the project; there was a resurgence of attention in the Ernesettle area of Plymouth due to another separate waste facility proposal;

(b)

the waste disposal site in Exeter opened last week; it was reported that during commissioning steam blowing noise coming from the site was much higher than expected however this was linked to a technical error;

(c)

there was increased media attention around the issue of steam blowing – there were concerns that this was a highly visual and noisy process;

(d)

a meeting between MVV and SWDWP was planned to discuss proactive media communications over the next few months in relation to MVV’s commissioning programme to ensure that residents and local councillors were aware of what was happening.

 (a)

there was increasing engagement with primary schools and higher education establishments;

(b)

operational staff were now in place and had been employed from the local area; jobs were linked in with the Council’s 1000 club to promote jobs in Plymouth;

(c)

site tours had commenced; the oldest visitor was 83 years old;

(d)

the Community Liaison officer had worked with the new University Technical College; a group of students had been sponsored by MVV  for a green power project and were building their own electric powered racing car;

(e)

a group of A Level Engineering students used the EFW project to write a report for one of their modules;

(f)

four primary schools were actively engaged with the programme and had started a ‘recycle’ module at school; children visited the site and were shown around the viewing platform;

(g)

foundation year children from a nearby school have a weekly welly walk around Blackies Woods;

(h)

approximately 70% of the construction workers on site and 98% of the operational team were locally employed;

(i)

the education programme, a requirement of the Section106 agreement, had been approved by the planning authority;

(j)

the newsletter distribution list currently had 1800 properties however officers were aware of the need to keep everyone as informed as possible, through a variety of media outlets;

(k)

additional mailshots would be distributed approximately one week before the site was due to start burning oil to advise local residents of what they might see and hear as a result of this process;

(l)

community drop-in sessions were being organised once a month at a variety of locations to provide residents with information and to answer questions;

(m)

the North Yard Trust had their own website and were starting to fund local projects;

(n)

a local childrens’ football team was sponsored to play a tournament in the Netherlands; over £3000 was raised and they won the tournament.

 (o)

there was expected to be a large volume of visitors to the site once operational , specifically from schools and local community groups; this needed to be planned and managed;

(p)

an open day was being scheduled for local Headteachers to advise them of what was available at the site.

(1)

the presentation would be distributed to Members after the meeting;

(2)

a workshop with MVV would be arranged to include SWDWP officers to agree how to manage and coordinate visits to the site; committee members requested they see and have input to the final programme.

 (a)

the functions of the plant needed to be tested to ensure it was safe; environmental impacts were being managed and mitigation steps were in place;

(b)

it was important to keep the local community informed of progress on site as well as the steam blowing exercise;

(c)

a specialist was brought in from Germany and would undertake the commissioning of the site; he was expected to stay until the end of the year;

(d)

the first phase of commissioning included:

·          

the ‘blow out’ procedure which would flush out the system to ensure it was as clean as possible;

·          

for the boiler to be heated in order to create a corrosion protection layer in the tubes;

·          

a small amount of steam would be produced, this would escape via a funnel in the roof other than via the main chimney. Smoke would not be emitted during this process;

·          

waste was not burned during this process;

·          

the boiler would be heated up daily taking between 6 to 8 hours; this was not a noisy process;

·          

the steam inside would build under pressure; a valve would then be opened and the steam would be blown out to get rid of the small corrosion particles contained inside;

·          

the blowing out procedure would last approximately 15 minutes and be undertaken each day until clean and would emit noise;

·          

a silencer would be installed to reduce the noise impact however this contributed to pressure loss;

·          

there was a chance that grey smoke would be emitted during the oil burners operating;

(e)

the second phase of commissioning included:

·          

the receipt and burning of waste;

·          

combustion control systems would be adjusted;

·          

during this phase the air pollution control system would be operating;

(f)

the third phase of commissioning included:

·          

electrical connection to the grid;

·          

testing would be undertaken to ensure the safety functions were working;

(g)

the fourth phase of commissioning included:

·          

acceptance and reliability testing to demonstrate that the plant performance is achieved;

·          

the site needs to be compliant and the acceptance test needed to be achieved;

(h)

noise monitoring points were located around the site and measured noise 24 hours a day; noise monitoring was also reported on the MVV website;

(i)

mitigation was in place to avoid unnecessary odour, litter and dust during operation; the site had a system which sucks the air out of the bunker during the shut-down period and then cleans it.

 (j)

officers and MVV were aware of the importance of informing residents that some noise was expected;

(k)

a variety of different media channels were expected to be used to inform residents including the local news and radio, website pages as well as leaflet drops.

 (a)

the majority of the workplan had been ‘greyed’ out as complete;

(b)

commissioning was expected to start in December 2014;

(c)

MVV had worked hard to follow the planned programme and despite delays the project was progressing well.