The proposal for this plant is going to Regulatory committee on the 10th February.
They have received about 100 objections.

It is a new plan for the Highways depot at Micheldever Station.

The majority of homeowners are less than 500m from the site.

-And there is already one piece of plant on site which recycles road material to use again on Hampshire’s roads.The minerals and waste plan incorporates this in its description of the site.

With the limitations of the site ( a relatively small triangle owned by HCC within 350m of the village) we never dreamed that they would want to put another asphalt plant there.

The site has a salt barn– which was set up in response to the snow threat a few years ago. As the snow continued, salt supplies were running out, Hampshire built a huge salt barn at this site to ensure that in future years, the salt wouldn’t run out in Hampshire.
Micheldever residents accepted this (although that too was proposed and consulted upon with indecent haste) as a responsibility to all residents in Hampshire.

We were told that this salt barn would now be used to store road materials and vehicles, not salt.
Yet again, a plan changed- which to residents, feels like a promise broken.

On Friday, I took three members of the Parish Council to see a site in Somerset. We are glad we went!

It certainly impressed upon me, the variety of types of stone and bitumen needed, the sourcing of the materials, the responsiveness of the company to the EA controls, and the cost effectiveness of a larger operation which can offer up to 70 different recipes for asphalt, according to end use.We questioned- why would our road maintenance company want to set up a small asphalt plant when there are several fully operational ones just an hour away?
It gave us the chance to think about the questions we wanted to ask. Here are some FAQ’s

?So why here and not at Dummer, where HCC own land which lies fallow after use as a traveller site?
…Because the highways team haven’t looked at this option.

? Will you look at this option?
…We do not intend to

? Will this serve all of Hampshire’s needs?
…No- the site will be producing about 87%.

?Will Amey sell elsewhere?
… not intended at the start, but we can’t know in future.

?Where else can this sort of material be sourced?
… from sites in Somerset

?Why does HCC want to do this?
…Because they think it will be cheaper than buying elsewhere.

? But the price of oil is at an all time low. Isn’t it better to go out to the very competitive UK market?
… Amey want to build a plant, and HCC think it is a good idea. (After our visit on Friday- I don’t!!)

?But there’s no local source of stone or bitumen. Where will it come from?
…France, Spain etc by ship and road.There is no rail link to the site.

? Is there only one sort of asphalt?
… No there will be 20 types produced here- with different recipes. HCC say that Amey will batch up jobs as they produce the different types. So more delay to work being completed then

?Who will own the equipment? It’s not on the Capital Programme at HCC?
…Amey, the current contractor will own the equipment.(still not sure what happens at the end of the Amey contract?)

?But doesn’t their contract finish next year? How does this work in practice?Could they lose the contract, but still lease the land?
…Yes

? What emissions leave the chimney stack?
… EA monitor the emissions and contractor has to provide information so they can monitor.

?What happens to the dust and any emissions?
…There aren’t any neighbours near enough to be affected.

? So, last time there was an asphalt plant here, the wind blew the dust to the village and our fruit trees were covered in dust. Can you assure us it won’t happen again?
…It’s a modern plant. We don’t think so.

Although councillors on the Regulatory Committee have seen the Micheldever depot, they won’t have seen a site like this before.
I am asking for a deferral so that councillors can make the site visit to Somerset too- which will allow them to ask:
? Why does Amey really want to build a small plant in Hampshire? And will it become a white elephant or a running sore for Station residents as it grows?

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