Letter to Cherry Lodge Golf Course members

Dear Golf Club Member

You may be aware that the proposal by Woodland Environmental, to use construction landfill to landscape your Golf Club, was turned down by Bromley Council. The residents of Biggin Hill are now being told that 'Woodland', on behalf of Cherry Lodge, will now appeal that decision. The residents and retailers of Biggin Hill would like to draw your attention to a number of points that you may not have appreciated and may affect your decision about the Golf Club improvement plan.

Woodland Environmental have made a number of points in their presentation that gloss over the real impact on the community. In particular they comment on:

1. The quantity of landfill - 250,000 cu.metres of landfill construction waste,

2. The opening times for running the waste to the site - 7.30am to 5.30pm,

3. The temporary effect on the community - 18 months.

They also say that they will be altering 12 holes on the golf course and only 'minor disruption that will occur' over the whole period. Woodlands have sought to minimise (in their presentation) the scale of disruption to both the Community and the Golf Club, but then of course they would, wouldn't they. They stand to create an income for their company of between £1 - 1.5 million.

 

We would like you to consider their proposal in more detail.

1. 250,000 cu.metres to be moved within a period of 18 months. They talk about 'clay, soil and other excavated materials' when really they mean construction rubble from building sites. The 'material to be sourced within a 20 mile radius', we ask you if you know of any major construction work being carried out within the locality?

But the most important point is to understand the scale of what 250,000 cu.metres means (note 1 cu.metre is approximately 1 ton). The whole of Kent only created 200,000 tons of inert waste last year. That included 20,000 tons of landfill waste from London. So if you were able to divert all the landfill waste sent by London to Kent then it would take 20 years to complete the Golf Club alterations. Your site would be competing for landfill with all the major established sites around Dartford and Sevenoaks. Why do we say 'competing' - because each site receives anything between £60 and £120 per (18 ton) load from the contractor, which is why Woodlands can offer to landscape your course for free. They simply open up your course as an inert, construction rubble site and are the paid by the construction companies as they unload their spoil.

How long will it really take - not 18 months but more like 5 years or longer.

2. In Woodlands' proposal to your Club, they talk about running 70 - 80 delivery lorries per day between the hours of 7.30 am and 5.30 pm. This would only take place during Monday to Friday so that the Golf Club members will not be affected at the weekend (other than 12 holes being re-constructed on an intermittent basis). So the morning and evening rush hours and the school hours will see 30 - ton lorries traveling through the main High Street of Biggin Hill.

70 - 80 delivery lorries does not sound too bad - that's only 1 lorry every 6 minutes. But again this is where Woodlands have been economical with the truth. Most people would talk about lorry movements because 1 delivery means 2 lorry movements (full and empty). The real number of lorries travelling through Biggin Hill is 140-160 per day or 1 every 3 minutes - that is real disturbance and damage to the community.

Your golf club will be seen as responsible for the havoc in your local community, not Woodlands.

3. Don't forget, Woodlands say this is only a temporary disturbance. On their plans it will be for 18 months but for any qualitative analysis of their plans, this temporary disturbance to the community could last 5 years or more.

 

And what is the real effect for you as a golfer?

As a golf club member do you really support such a plan which will see the local community alienated in order for you to have a driving range, car parks and re-modelled holes, not to mention the disruption to your playing facilities, spanning a more realistic 5 year period.

 

 

Do you really care so little about your community that you are prepared to inflict such damage and disturbance to them?

 

Please talk to us.

 

 

Firstly, we are not just saying 5 years - we are saying 5 years or longer. Even more important how can the developer, Woodlands, prove that they can obtain the inert landfill in 18 months. They must have used some logic to say, in their original proposal, that they were taking 18 months (and not 9 months or a year) to import the materials and would be opening the site for loads at 7.30 and close at 5.30. In their altered proposal to the council they said there opening times would be restricted to 9.30 to 4.30. Even that change should have increased the period to 2 years 2 months (7 hours versus 10 hours of opening).

Secondly, and most important, we can show that Kent, with a width of 63 miles by 40 miles depth  (an area of 1537 square miles), only used 200,000 tons of inert waste (and that included 20,000 tons from London). Woodlands are claiming that with a catchment area of 20 mile radius, they can pull in 250,000 tons. Let us examine that a little more. 

Even if we allow their figures to assume they will pull in all the waste from Kent which is produced within that 20 miles- so are we allowed to say that they will attract one third of all of Kent's inert construction landfill (20 miles into the 60 miles).

180,000 tons divided by 3 equals 60,000 tons

Add to that all 100% of the waste London sends to Kent - 20,000 tons

Gives a total of 80,000 tons of available inert landfill waste per year.

That means if they really do achieve all of the above it will 3- 4 years to obtain the waste.

But now we have to factor in the reduced opening hours because site operators will start sending their waste to landfill sites that open at normal operating times. So we have to assume they will lose some of that 100% availability because it will go to other sites - so do we use the 7 hours opening versus 10 hours normal opening to say that the maximum waste Woodlands can take is 56,000 tons.

We have now arrived at 5 years

but it also says that Woodlands have taken ALL of the available landfill within the catchment area. All landfill sites make their money by allowing construction companies to dump their waste but the landfill operator makes a charge for it, which can vary depending upon market conditions. You now have to assume that all of these landfill operators will sit back and allow Woodlands to take all of their income. So our calculations can afford to be generous and say that Woodlands will not take 100% of availability, because of competitive pressures, but maybe they can take 50%.

 result - 10 years.

What people have missed is that landfill is very profitable for the landfill operator - he does not provide lorries or drivers but just keeps the site open.  That is why Woodlands can afford to say to Cherry Lodge Golf Club that they will improve the course for free. Woodlands will make an enormous profit on an income stream created from 250,000 tons of waste (£4-5 per ton). The real problem is the time variable created from all the different sites competing for a limited landfill waste supply. Our assumptions have allowed Woodlands to take 100% of the availability and that results in 5 years. If Woodlands can only achieve 50% availability then the time span increases to 10 years.

We have used publicly available statistics - where have Woodlands obtained theirs?

 

 

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