14 July 2009 residents woken by steam noises

Residents were roused from their sleep several times during the night by extreme noises caused by the laundries unannounced steam emissions. Some residents report this commencing from midnight – others from 03:15 hours. But the most noise seems to have had a concerted effect from 05:00 hours. Two seperate residents were forced to re locate from their bedrooms to the other side of their houses to retrieve some sleep during the night.

The emissions were video recorded by Mr Garner and have been made into a DVD and presented to David Eaton head of the Environment Dept at Forde House. This will show them in great detail the actual events suffered.

Communications from the laundry were nil, breaking the agreement we have whereby they agreed to pre-warn residents via myself or Cllr Hook of any intended emissions. Also they agreed to advise afterwards if there were any ‘emergency’ emissions. None of this occured and it took some severe chasing by Cllr Hook and myself to gain ANY communication.

Re Phase 2 of the agreed painting shceme: I have no good or positive news to report at this time. The man dealing with the matter has gone on holiday and supposedly handed over details of supplying confirmatory specimen colour panels to me. None of this has so far happened, despite repeated requests for details.

 

In all not very good news, in fact a stink of the old days, which considering the time and energy put in to improve matters  especially communications to avoid confrontational attitudes – VERY dissapointing all round.

If there are any more developements they will be posted here asap and emailed to those people who have requested notification by that means.

If your neighbours have email and would like to be kept up to date instantly please ask them to contact me at les.edgecumbe@btinternet.com

Cllr Gordon Hook re-elected

Gordon Hook retained his Devon County Council seat at yesterdays election. Congratulations.

01 May 2009 Steam and Painting Phase 2

Communications concerning recent steam emissions, (including new one’s from the big chimney stack), and request for a schedule of commencement of Phase 2 painting (chimney and roof), have been made between myself, Cllr. G Hook and the Management of Sunlight.

The recent large steam emissions were due to a “Safety Survey which required a test”. No notification of this was made to us prior to the test as was agreed to happen at our meeting with the Management. It transpires that Chris Foulkes is now in the IOW and a new manager is in charge over at the Blot. Hopefully new lines of communications will be made to avoid this happening in the future.

As soon as we are notified of a date for commencing painting it will be posted here and directly to those people that have submitted their email address for direct contact.

==========

from Cllr Hook 01May09:-

Les,

I have followed up your concerns re stack and hope attached is self explanatory.

Regards.

G

 

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From: Steven Hobbs [mailto:Steven.Hobbs@Teignbridge.gov.uk]
Sent: 01 May 2009 16:02
To: Gordon Hook
Cc: David Eaton
Subject: CLS

 

F.a.o. Councillor Hook

 

I refer to your recent enquiry to David Eaton about the use of the stack at CLS.

 

I have checked the planning permission (reference 1998/2513/01/3) for the building and there is no conditions relating to the use of the stack. Should you wish to discuss this then please do not hesitate to contact me next week.

 

Regards

 

Steven Hobbs

Senior Planning Enforcement Officer

08Jan09 night steam emmisions noise

08Jan09:

Les

I believe that you have a contact with the CLS manager and I would appreciate if you could pass on my displeasure to him, I had an appointment in Penzance this morning but I have canceled that as I do not feel safe driving there and back without any sleep not only a danger to myself but other road users especially under the present road conditions.

Every five minutes throughout the night the valves were vented and did not stop until around 7am this morning no doubt when someone who knew what they were doing arrived at work. I appreciate that there is probably or at least I hope there is a fault with the valve what I do not understand why the fault was not shut down straight away and would like an explanation from them.

For a few pounds I can get details of all the directors and secretaries of Sunlight from Companies House along with their addresses and contact numbers and unless I get an assurance that any future faults will be dealt with straight away and not let to go on all night I will contact each and every person listed at the same intervals as the valves going off.

Whilst I am happy with all the progress that has been made with the company this sort of thing can cause a big set back.

Being self employed it has cost me money by having to cancel my meeting and unless I can get an assurance from the company as to their future dealing with faults at night I will instruct my solicitor to recover my looses from the company.

I am sorry to sound so bitter but that is how I feel at present.

Bleary eyed

Holger =======================

Les,

I am currently on the Isle of Wight covering for sickness of 2 senior members of staff but I have spoken with Paul Pearson at Newton Abbot who says that they are aware of the problem and are dealing with it. We are asking Zurich who handle the legal and insurance position on the boilers to raise the pressure at which the safety valves start to lift to avoid this problem in the future. I will keep you aware of progress on this aspect.

Please can you apologise to the resident as we do wish to be a responsible member of the local community.

The problem was not one we could have foreseen and could have advised.

Will contact you soon over progress.

Chris Foulkes General Manager, Sunlight Laundry==============

Dear Mr Edgecumbe,

 

Thank you for alerting my colleagues at our Newton Abbot factory to the overnight noise that has occurred recently.  May I first apologise for the disruption that we may have inadvertently caused.  To explain in brief, we have two steam boilers on site, and one boiler is used to operate the plant with another on stand-by.  For maintenance purposes, we have this week changed to using the stand by boiler as the lead boiler and have encountered an unforeseen problem.

 

The team on site have today made some adjustments to stop any repetition with the stand-by boiler, and these adjustments will be verified by our insurers (statutory for pressure vessels) and myself early next week, and hence I expect no further overnight problems during the working week as of Monday.

 

May I also add, that we are in the process of implementing a plan for scaling back the overnight operation which will significantly reduce the risk of “nuisance” in our immediate environment.  This plan should be fully implemented over the coming month.

 

I hope this answers your query, and again I can only apologise for this unfortunate occurrence.  If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jonathan Cooper

Engineering Director

Linen Services

 ===============

10Jan09:

 

Dear Mr Cooper,

Thank you for your email with the explanation of events over at the laundry a couple of nights ago. I will pass this on to residents immediately.

For clarification can you please confirm that once the new safety lift levels of both boilers is set to the new parameters that bar an accident or test procedure that this sort of emission should not recurr. A new relationship/era is beginning with the laundry and we residents wish to maintain this as much as your management do.

 

Best regards,

 

Les Edgecumbe.=================

Dear Mr Edgecumbe
I can confirm that under normal operation there should be no problem with the safety valves, and as I stated yesterday, when the adjustments have been made there should be no further unplanned lifting of the safety valves, particularly overnight.
 
I will confirm to you when I am satisfied that we have completed the necessary adjustments for a permanent solution.
 
Regards
Jonathan Cooper
Sunlight Textile Services
Linen Division===============

 

Hi Les

I appreciate what id being said but why can they not shut down once the problem  arises instead of letting it go on for hours during the night as I have said before they must be insured for business interruption which will cover it.

Regards

Holger

 

In a message dated 09/01/2009 14:14:47 GMT Standard Time, les.edgecumbe@btinternet.com writes:

09Jan09  14:10

 

Thank you for your email, just received. I have forwarded it on to residents.

 

It is a great shame that this has occured when things seemed to be getting so much better, and it is to be hoped that a solution will indeed be found to prevent a repetition.  This has been the explanation previously, so is it an on-going matter, and if so why is it taking so long?

 

Regards,

Comments to Herald Express 12Nov08..

• Thank you Sunlight & the pressure group – The outlook is much better now, after years of eyesore. It’s just a shame that it has taken so much time and effort (and a change in ownership) to correct the original error.

  Nick, Aller Park

  commented on 13-Nov-2008 16:54

• Paul, you should research your subject before you open your big mouth and put your foot in it !
  I was the originator of the complaint about the laundry, Les was also a complainant separately to me, and we joined forces to take the Council to the Ombudsman, and won. This is an ongoing scheme since the Laundry was commenced, it hasn’t just happened. The original owners of the laundry should have done what the new owners “Sunlight” have done and there would not have been any complaint then, but the Council did not pursue the problem, they thought we would go away. I did, I sold up and left !

  Mike, Bishopsteignton (ex Allerbrake Road)

  commented on 13-Nov-2008 12:22

  Whinger, Newton Abbot, Newton Abbot

  commented on 12-Nov-2008 18:13
• With regard to Paul’s comments regarding the laundry he quite clearly has no understanding of the matter.

  barrie, Newton Abbot

  commented on 13-Nov-2008 11:31

  I suggest he gets himself up to speed on the issues involved before he makes such crass remarks in the future .
  The current laundry management and the people representing the residents of Aller Park ,Newton Abbot have made the best of a poor lot.
  and it was acheived without any uninformed help from people living outside the area.

• So someone with a view (sic) different to yours (Paul) is automatically a whinging idiot. A very strange/eliteist outlook.
  Can’t you be constructive?? For your information we residents have a very good working relationship with the Management over there – and your petty grousing doesn’t really affect or contribute anything to the matter. Move on to the sports pages eh?
• I am one of the ‘whinging idiots’. If the Council had done their job properly and put the conditions that they were supposed to put on the planning permission there would never have been a problem in the first place – and there would have been little additional cost for the company. If more people cared about the environment where they lived and took steps to improve things then we would all benefit from living in a more pleasant environment. Also, I don’t live in Torquay so it doesn’t matter much to me what the complaints of residents are there. Different things matter to different people. Just because I may not agree with what other people are doing does not mean that I would call them whinging idiots.

  Sarah, Newton Abbot

  commented on 12-Nov-2008 17:29

  I am proud of what the residents of Aller and the local councillors have achieved. It’s a pity more people do not take stand to sort out the issues in their own areas and make them a better place to live.

• Now if they could only manage to keep their lorrys out of the Lane at rush hour that would be an achievement. I cant count the times I’ve had to wait for 20 mins to get past a big blue road block.

  Gareth, Plainmoor

  commented on 12-Nov-2008 13:02
• I thought CLS were supposed to blend the building in to the area when they built it.

  B, Torbay.

  commented on 12-Nov-2008 11:44
• My God! We have a successful business in the area that provides employment for I dont know how many locals, but I’m guessing hundreds, and you have locals whinging about the colour of the building!!! Lobbying to get the owners to pay thousands to redecorate!! In this current economic climate I applaude the owners patience and understanding…Personally I would of told the whinging idiots to take a run and jump and put things into perspective!!

  Paul, Torquay

  commented on 12-Nov-2008 09:34
• >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
• Factory ‘cover up’ given the thumbs up

  Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 09:07

   

• The bright-white appearance of CLS Laundry at Decoy has been toned down to blend in with the surrounding green land.

  The £55,000 revamp has resulted in the factory’s new brown colour — and it has delighted residents who have long complained the plant was an eyesore.

  Next May, when the weather is warmer, the roof will be repainted green, effectively ‘camouflaging’ the building.

  The work has been the result of a joint partnership between residents, ward councillor Gordon Hook, who contributed £1,000 from a special Devon County Council fund, and laundry company Sunlight.

  Lobbyist Les Edgecumbe, of Aller Park Road, said: “The Sunlight management is to be congratulated on its efforts and a number of grateful comments have been received here.

  “The residents should also be congratulated, along with ward councillors, for their steadfastness in obtaining the final result. The effort of the Aller Park Residents Action Group is also appreciated.”

  Sunlight’s group human resources director Martin Roberts said: “Certainly the number of emails we have received, and we have received a lot, without exception have been delighted with it so far.

  “We have completed the work we said we would do, which has been the side elevations, and the roof will take about two or three weeks to complete next May. We will then have a factory which blends in with the surrounding area.”

   

   

Scaffolding erected – 23Sept2008

Scaffolding was being erected today  in the area of the loading bays.

The first objective is cleaning of the elevations, followed by the actual painting work.

It is hoped to keep a photographic diary of the work and then to produce an animated journal on completion of each phase.

Teignbridge ?Planners? overide Public Opinion AGAIN…

Herald Express – front page 26Feb08:

REMEMBER CLS AND THE PUBLIC OUTCRY? - be VERY AFRAID!!! The ‘People from the Other Planet’ a.k.a. Teignbridge Planning Department are preparing to ride rough shod over Taxpaying objectors again!. These thick hides do not take on board any protests/objections and are totally impervious to any discent to their hidden agendas.

NO CONFIDENCE in Teignbridge District Council

 

Herald Express 19Jan2008.   Does anyone outside of “Fraud House” actually  believe the council spokesman? Another headline in the Mid Devon Advertiser this week – “Council will listen to taxpayers“…… Oh yes? WHEN?

Extended hours for as yet unused floodlighting

Teignbridge Councillors have again let down the residents of Aller Park by permitting extended hours to a proposed floodlighting scheme at the Buckland Athletic football complex in Decoy. DESPITE 38 submitted objections – it seems these are NEVER taken into account.

The floodlighting has not even been installed yet, so is unused and, unquantified as to the effect on us residents – and yet the Councillors say” yes go ahead!”

The application for extended hours was made purely on grounds to procure finance – not through actual need or consideration to others. This is another small nail in the coffin of the valley, fully supported by Councillors who do not reside in this area, are not affected by the project and generally don’t give a damn about us who have to put up with the consequences – UNTIL PERHAPS ELECTION TIME?????Ho, Hummm we shall see.

The Blot on the Landscape view for Aller Park residents