A series of unfortunate events is taking place inside the Combe Valley Countryside Park boundary. Because Combe Valley was a countryside park with multiple landowners, rather than country park with one owner, it was understood that freedom to walk and enjoy the landscape and wildlife was dependent on the goodwill of the landowners. This goodwill is fast-diminishing and there are other problems to do with maintenance, and construction.

Wildlife Sensitivity

In one of the most wildlife-sensitive area of the park, Pebsham Lake and Woods, landowners have banned walkers from the beautiful bluebell woods above the lake, where redwings and spotted flycatchers can be seen – and from the sloping field south of the lake directly behind the large cormorant colony, next to the lake where greater crested grebes and kingfishers can often be seen. This field has been sold to a developer – Trafalgar. 

Bee orchids; Bluebells in Pebsham Woods
CREDIT: David EP Dennis

A parcel of land at Pebsham Farm appears to have been sold off last summer by land agents Lambert & Foster for potential development – see www.lambertandfoster.co.uk/property/lf002630. The basic price stated was £75,000, not the likely £3m value, but with an overage agreement that might transform the land’s value if it proves capable of development. 

Effluent

The next concern is evil-smelling effluent water (said not to be leachate) emerging from the side of the Pebsham Tip. The adjacent footpath, has been turned into something of a morass because the lake is unusually high, and the effluent is flowing via a side path into the lake. An ESCC manager has advised that there is a leak from a burst pipe from the Southern Water site. Southern Water will be attending to this. Walkers are advised not to walk through the boggy area until fixed.

Scouring of the ex-Biffa Site

Lastly, but most concerning, is the sale by Biffa of their derelict site next to the lake area. Although the site seems to be derelict from a construction point of view, it was certainly not ‘derelict’ from an ecological point of view. It has plants, trees, birds, and insects and, because it is inside a countryside park right next to a huge site of special scientific interest, common sense suggests that careful handling of any construction or site clearance work is required.

Unfortunately, Biffa did not advise of the sale to the controller of the Countryside Park – the Community Interest Company (CIC). The Park is managed on their behalf by Groundwork South. A senior member of Groundwork was told that the landowner has contracted with Greenweld Steel to erect ‘light industrial units’. However, no planning application has yet been presented to Rother DC. Site fencing has been erected and warning notices to parents of small children have been posted telling them to keep their children away from the ‘construction site’.

CREDIT: David EP Dennis

On the Facebook page ‘Save Our Bexhill Greenspace’, the landowner’s representative identified himself as Christian Burton, a director of Greenweld Steel. It has not been possible to ascertain the specific ownership of the land since the Land Registry is running around 10 months late in its registration processes.

Rother DC Directorate of Place and Climate Change explained that although it is of course legal to buy the ex-Biffa site, it is “…not on our Local Plan as a suitable site, in fact it is within the Strategic Gap and Countryside Park designations, both of which restrict most forms of development, including commercial use. We are not expecting this position to change.”

Controversy

The subject of land usage inside the Countryside Park has caused deep controversy with passionate arguments on both sides – the landowner’s relatives on one side, and the park users on the other. The language used on Facebook has now received a warning notice from a councillor at Rother DC to prevent overt aggression. 

CREDIT: David EP Dennis

A wildlife conservationist visited the site and reported on social media later:  “We were up there a few weeks ago watching them destroy the bushes around the edges with heavy machinery, when I tried to speak to one of them about the nesting birds we were told to f*** off and mind our own business – lovely with my son there.” 

Sussex Police have asked that anyone threatened verbally by site workers should report the matter on 101.

Following the series of altercations on Facebook, the next day it was reported that the ex-Biffa construction site gates had been damaged and flattened (see photos).

Causes for Concern

Why are people so angry about this incident? There are several reasons.

Firstly, the site owner’s representative explained on the public-facing Facebook page:  “I represent the Company that owns the land, we have just cleared some of the area to find the boundary. We may in future apply for planning permission on part of the land that is in the current Rother development area. We have not dumped anything on the site, just moved some earth after calling in a badger expert to confirm there were no sets. We are aware many people use the lane to walk their dogs and would like to assure them that we intend to improve the lane so we can safely co-habit. I have been in contact with Ben Coles from Combe Valley CIC to communicate our intentions. Just to clarify we are not going to try to build anything without the correct planning permission.”

However, it is the casual phrase, “cleared some of the area to find the boundary” that has deeply upset people because it is the bird nesting season, and the area is right next to Pebsham Lake – an extremely sensitive wildlife area as explained above. In the UK, Natural England defines the nesting season as starting in February and running through to August. The busiest period is from March to July. Some birds start earlier than February, and others nest all year round. 

Secondly, although a badger survey has been carried out, no full pre-construction biodiversity surveys required by law have been completed and published. It would be logical to think that if you intend to apply for planning permission inside such a sensitive wildlife conservation area, you will first read the Wildlife Act 1981 and find your duties as a developer set out in the Act and its associated legislation and advice. They would need to conduct the Section 41 priority species survey (see box text)  

However, alarmingly, one Facebook user on a public-facing site said: “They destroyed a long-established colony of 20-30 bee orchids including several Ophrys apifera var. chlorantha plants, not to mention many common spotted orchids as well. It was a lovely plant and animal rich re-wilded area. Was gutted when we saw the devastation at the ex-Biffa site you mention.”

And the future?

Hundreds of people who enjoy and value the Combe Haven Country-side Park are upset by these developments. In the case of the water leak, it will soon be repaired. In the case of Trafalgar, we await any development in that field with trepidation. In the case of the ex-Biffa site, we wait to see what the Sussex Police Rural Crime Team and the Rother District Council Planning Enforcement Team will say about the scouring of this site in the bird-nesting season and the possible destruction of conserved orchids.

Any planning applications in the Trafalgar or ex-Biffa sites would undoubtedly be opposed by hundreds of people.

Section 41 priority species surveys and how to conduct them

Many plants, fungi and lichens are listed as rare and most threatened species under Section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006). You must have regard for the conservation of Section 41 species as part of your planning decision. Find out more about your biodiversity duty.

You should ask for a survey if distribution, habitat assessments and historical records suggest they may be present on your proposed development site. You can search the National Biodiversity Network Atlas by species and location.

You must check if the ecologist is qualified and experienced to carry out surveys for plants, fungi and lichens. For EPS, the ecologist must hold an EPS mitigation licence if surveys cause any harm to protected plants.

The ecologist should also follow the Biodiversity code of practice for planning and development (BS 42020:2013) available on the British Standards Institute website www.gov.uk/guidance/construction-near-protected-areas-and-wildlife

The Hastings and St Leonards branch of Extinction Rebellion (XRHSL) has been out in force on the streets of Hastings to press anew its demand for Hastings Borough Council (HBC) to take positive action in respect of climate change. After putting up a number of eye-catching posters accusing HBC of having “sat on their hands” since declaring a climate emergency three years ago, XRHSL have focused in recent days on the formulation and debate of the Council’s budget for 2022/23 (see the front page of this issue).

They complain that, while the draft budget report lists “minimising environmental and climate harm in all that we do” as one of a number of the Council’s strategic priorities, there is no mention of initiatives to actively address decarbonisation. 

In a dramatically staged demonstration outside the former Debenhams store in Robertson Street last Saturday they invited supporters to bring old chairs and then made a high pile of them to signify the emptiness of the Council’s rhetoric. On Monday they assembled again outside Muriel Matters House where the cabinet were due to debate and approve the budget. 

Cllr Maya Evans, who is HBC cabinet lead for Environment & Climate Change, earlier posted a vigorous riposte on Facebook arguing that XRHSL are picking the wrong target. She contends that HBC has neither the funds nor the policy remit to address major climate issues such as transport, and that XR should be focussing their attention
on East Sussex County Council and on local Conservative MPs.

Cllr Evans and the XRHSL group express their respective views head to head below.
 

Focus on the real targets

Says Cllr Maya Evans

On posters around the town, Hastings Borough Council is accused by Extinction Rebellion of not doing nearly enough on the climate crisis. But the group has picked the wrong target, and this is why.

The latest Climate Emergency UK report reveals that 84 UK councils have NO climate change action plan or strategy. I assume this means 84 councils have no dedicated council officers focused on climate change either. I’m proud to say HBC has both.

• Since declaring a Climate Emergency in 2019 we have appointed two new dedicated council officials, a sustainability officer and renewable energy officer.

• The ‘solar for business’ project is up and running; the local plan to be reviewed. This will enable more areas in the town to be fitted with renewable energy.

• The council also took up the Government’s Green Homes Grant, to make older homes more energy efficient. But the funding is meagre – it’s enough for only around 300 homes.

• The council’s next step is to borrow BIG on renewable energy with £5m being earmarked for capital projects. The upcoming budget is now out for consultation. We hope residents will comment and tell us how they want this £5m spent.

A full list of progress can be found on the HBC website, while a climate change update (to be published next month) will see the private sector spotlighted: focus will be put on partners such as Southern Water, Stagecoach, Biffa, Optivo and all the other big private companies in town like General Dynamics, Tesco etc.

Housing Crisis 

But funding is a serious issue. The council has a budget of around £14m per year, £4m of that is going on housing. Hastings has a housing crisis, with nearly 400 people in temporary accommodation, while wealthy Londoners buy up properties as second homes or for Airbnbs, and developers sit on brownfield sites. That’s why Cllr Andrew Batsford has launched a campaign to enable local authorities to compulsorily purchase these precious potential sites. This £4m on housing we could be spending on tackling climate change.

A brief fact check: Tory-controlled East Sussex Council (ESCC) takes 72% of your council tax, Hastings Borough Council just 13%. That, and what it legally can and can’t do, limits its room to manoeuvre.

ESCC’s main responsibilities are transport, highways (roads  and pavements), adult social care, children’s services, libraries and youth work, while HBC has the powers over things like housing, waste, planning, parks, culture, regeneration and leisure. Transport is an excellent campaign target – it’s responsible for 29% of the town’s carbon emissions and therefore crucial in our target to go carbon neutral. But, annoyingly, it comes under the remit of ESCC. The lead member for transport and the environment is Cllr Claire Dowling. It’s definitely worth checking out her track record on climate change. 

We’ve heard that the Government’s ‘Bus Back Better’ project is being slashed. What was previously earmarked £3bn to improve buses has now been reduced to £1.4bn for the whole country. The Government narrative has changed from “What you will get funded” to “If you get funded”. In short, this means, we won’t be getting any electric buses.

Lobby your MPs

A good XR campaign is to NOW lobby MPs. A relevant campaign target should be local MP for Bexhill and Battle, Huw Merriman, who chairs the Transport Select Committee. You might also ask our Conservative MP Sally Ann Hart where she stands on this. And please note, tackling climate change is not yet a statutory requirement for councils. It receives no additional funding to do this. A helpful campaign would be to lobby Mrs Hart about this too.

HBC is a socialist green council that believes climate change is the biggest threat facing the human species, while at the same time trying to tackle poverty. In many ways the two things are linked. But for the last two years, councils have faced the more immediate existential crisis of Covid-19: lots of business grants to process and emergency measures to implement. And austerity for councils still continues: this year HBC faces a £2m deficit. Other councils, like our neighbours Eastbourne, are even more on the brink. Some, like Nottingham, are facing bankruptcy. ‘Levelling up’ is Government whitewash, it won’t come anywhere close to getting the country back to 2010 pre-austerity levels.

Over the last 12 years this country has gone backward; it’s the first time since the Napoleonic wars that life expectancy has declined.

We in Hastings Labour Group believe the people of Hastings want to hear hope, and about practical ways that we in our small seaside town can do our bit to make positive steps to tackle climate change. Well done, XR, for your recent campaign efforts, but I urge you to take Greta’s advice in her COP26 address and focus on the real targets. When Greta said “blah, blah, blah” she was talking about powerful world leaders with trillions at their disposal, not a humble second-tier council which is potentially facing bankruptcy because of its commitment to house the homeless. So stay hopeful, XR, focus on the real targets. And never stop believing that another world is possible.

Put the Climate at the Heart of the Budget

Say Extinction Rebellion Hastings and St Leonards

XR is a distinct campaigning voice. Many of us within XR are active in other community groups and give our energy to other causes too. But, as XR, we call for an end to ‘business as usual’. So we advocate for our representatives to rise above the usual excuse-making and empty target setting; to tell the truth and act now. Our approach may be imperfect, but – over the past three years – it has been part of a shift in the public perception of this existential crisis. And the failure of COP26 demonstrated the absolute need for our continuing action.

Recent campaigns by XRHSL have called on HBC to step up to their ambitious target of net zero carbon by 2030. In part this is to demand action, but it is also to demand the truth, because it’s time to get real.

CREDIT: Cathy Teesdale

Good intentions and aspirational pledges won’t solve the climate crisis. Policy setting and objectives need to be supported by real-world interventions; it is not what is said, but what is done that matters, and where the money is spent. It is now three years since our council passed a motion to declare a Climate Emergency. Does it feel like they are acting like it’s an emergency?

That HBC has acknowledged the Climate Crisis is, undoubtedly, a step in the right direction. Their ambitious target of 2030 is impressive only if they are putting in place the measures to meet it. Financial constraints are real, but they cannot be the reason to fail. We need to find ways to take control of our behaviours, incrementally decreasing carbon outputs, creating better habitats, generating cleaner energy, improving transport options. The more we do, the greater the impact and the wider the benefits.

HBC’s current Draft Budget Report lists minimising environmental and climate harm in all that we do as one of their strategic priorities, but does not highlight concrete initiatives to actively address decarbonisation in time for 2030.

We recognise that there are many seats of power and influence which we must challenge, including East Sussex County Council which holds responsibility and finance for many key aspects of how our town runs. However, the complete distinction between ESCC and HBC’s responsibilities, whilst meaningful in abstract, is not practical on the ground. These two councils must find ways to work together on this crisis. Even where HBC does not have direct responsibility for transport, for example, the integrated vision for decarbonising our town’s infrastructure and behaviours around travel must be part of their remit. This means working with ESCC as well as implementing and communicating a local vision involving residents.

CREDIT: Cathy Teesdale

XRHSL recently asked members of the public in the town centre for their view on HBC’s initiatives on tackling the climate crisis, and not one of the respondents felt that enough was being done. Our community recognises that ‘business as usual’ in local government is not enough: we need courage, conviction and creativity to do what is required. To tackle the climate crisis effectively HBC must communicate with residents, meet with the numerous community groups that are hungry for action. In real life. With honesty.

In 2018 XR launched, saying: “We refuse to bequeath a dying planet to future generations.” Three years on, as the science continues to evidence the peril and increasing urgency of the situation across the globe, we stand by this commitment. We look to our elected representatives for leadership and we campaign to give them a mandate to put the climate justice and all our futures first.

• Visit xrhsl.org to join our local group, or extinctionrebellion.uk for more information. 

Hastings flat dwellers currently experiencing rubbish collection delays are not alone. The Borough Council’s new contractor, Biffa who took over last June, has struggled to organise and complete collection round schedules since early October and consequently completely missed some dates. Conversely, some recycling collections have been duplicated. 

At least one block with overflowing bins waited five days for them to be emptied.

Getting through on the phone to report missed collections sometimes isn’t easy, with one complainant waiting 26 minutes. Asked what was going wrong, a call centre worker referred to “backlogs” and “management issues” at the contractor.

The problems centre on the large wheeled bins serving flat blocks. In one case HIP witnessed workers dragging the heavy rubbish containers 50 metres to the truck rather than – as with the previous contractor – reversing directly to the bin store, a practice inevitably slowing progress.

A spokesperson from Biffa said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused to customers in Hastings. Through internal investigations it has become evident that, whilst our collections have been occurring daily at the correct frequency, they had not been executed at the optimum timings. We are currently in the process of re-addressing this issue and, in doing so, are working closely with the Council to ensure our service is as efficient as possible.”

Biffa also verbally assured HIP that their collection vehicles have steered rear axles, enabling them to access tight collection points – flatly contradicting the visual evidence of two successive trucks at one location that demonstrably did not.

A business owner who privately hires Biffa, a company which describes itself as ‘the number one for business waste’, says she has concerns about it taking over the domestic waste and recycling collections across the county.

Caroline Sweby, owner of the Custom Café on the A259 near Bexhill, has privately hired the company for a year and a half to collect her commercial general waste, glass and mixed recycling. 

But missed collections leading to backlogs of waste and recycling on her premises as well as bills for services she says she hasn’t received have prompted her to look elsewhere for a ‘more reliable’ company.

Ms Sweby is passionate about the environment and her staff carefully sort all waste in the kitchen and bar to the point of separating bottle tops, as well as foodstuffs such as bread and different meats which they now send to the nearby animal sanctuary.

However, she was recently horrified when told that a backlog of glass – built up due to missed collections – should be put in her ‘general waste’ bin in order to be collected by the general waste lorry, rather than by a glass lorry.

Her post on Facebook expressing her concerns about where her carefully separated waste was going attracted 275 shares, over 200 comments and reached around 35, 000 people.

“That’s how angry people are about it. We separate absolutely everything and it’s really important to me that it goes to the right place. We don’t make that much effort for it to just go in the general waste.”

“I want to visit their (Biffa’s) facility, I’m going to check out all the other companies and visit theirs as well to see where it actually goes.”

Responsibility

With regard to domestic recycling in the county, Biffa says East Sussex County Council, as the ‘Waste Disposal Authority’ is responsible for the materials collected and what happens to them afterwards. As mentioned opposite, Viridor, which also describes itself as ‘one of the UK’s leading recycling, resource and waste management companies’ has signed a contract with ESCC to receive, sort and process domestic dry recycling across the county. The company was asked by HIP to explain what happens to materials after this, but had not responded by the time of going to press.

But what of business waste and recycling? Where does this get taken once collected? Biffa, one of a number of companies which offer this service, has so far given this reply:

“In the case of private business collections in that area, Biffa offer a weekly recycling collection through a sub-contractor at the moment which therefore would make the contractor responsible for the materials. Contractors used are Haulaway, Suez, Britannia Crest and Light Bros.”

The trail continues.

While Hastings Borough Council has warned there may be some initial ‘teething problems’, residents are being encouraged to visit their local council websites to report issues such as litter and missed collections.

Following the departure of previous contractor Kier, waste management company Biffa has taken over responsibility for collecting domestic bins and kerbside recycling in Hastings and Rother. Meanwhile, HBC is now employing its own in-house street cleaning team which is responsible for emptying the town’s public bins, cleaning the streets, clearing litter, dog mess and removing fly tipping. The council has taken on 27 former Kier employees and says with extra staff the emphasis will be on more frequent emptying of public bins and litter collections.

The changes came into effect on Saturday 29th June and Colin Fitzgerald, lead councillor for the environment, said while there could be initial problems, ”as these new services bed in we are excited about the new waste service and look to see improvements over the coming weeks.”

Crayford recycling plant

Enhanced service
A further 20 new bins provided by the EU-funded Hastings Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) are set to be introduced along the seafront over the summer while a dedicated litter ‘barrow round’ will operate along the promenade seven days a week.

HBC says it will be “monitoring resource requirements over the coming months to establish if further staff are needed to maintain the service level.”

Recycling
While there will be few changes to collection arrangements under Biffa’s new contract residents have been told they no longer need to separate glass from other recyclables such as paper, cardboard and cans but to mix together in pink bags or recycling bins. This is due to advances in technology which make sorting glass for recycling easier. Moreover, Tetra Paks – long life juice and milk cartons often lined with tinfoil or plastic – will no longer be recycled and should be disposed of in waste bins, where they will be sent to the Newhaven energy recovery facility. According to East Sussex Joint Waste Partnership (ESJWP) a partnership of local councils across the county, this is due to changes in the kinds of materials now accepted by cardboard producers. 

ESJWP has signed a £20 million contract with Viridor to receive residents’ dry recyclables including paper, cardboard, plastics, glass aluminium and steel cans from all five districts and boroughs for the next three years. Once collected by Biffa these will be taken to Viridor’s Crayford Materials Recycling Facility to be sorted and sold on “into the recycling markets.” Plastics will be sent for processing to the company’s specialist recycling plants in Kent and Lancashire.