PUBLIC UTILITIES

INTRODUCTION

10.1 The provision, planning and protection of public services are crucial to the success of the Local Plan. Provision applies not only to making sure that the new allocations can be adequately serviced, but also ensuring that inadequacies in the existing services are rectified. Planning can ensure that these services are delivered at the appropriate time and allow development to proceed as and when needed.

10.2 Consideration has to be given to phasing utilities infrastructure in order that it can be provided without imposing on any of the environmental constraints that form an integral part of the Plan.

10.3 In order to ensure that the existing services can operate without undue constraints being placed on their operational capabilities the Plan has to ensure that new proposals can be developed without placing new constraints on the existing services.

10.4 The agencies which provide public services can be grouped as follows:

• County Council - responsible for education, social services, libraries, highways and waste disposal
• District Council - Waste colllection and street cleansing
• Fire and Rescue Service
• Health Authority
• Utilities - water supply, sewage disposal, gas, electricity, telecommunications.

OBJECTIVES

COUNTY COUNCIL SERVICES

Education

10.5 Essex County Council (ECC) provides full-time education facilities together with Foundation Schools. Secondary school facilities are provided at Maldon (Plume) and Burnham-on-Crouch (St Peter's). Primary school facilities are located at Bradwell-on-Sea, Burnham-on-Crouch, Cold Norton, Great Totham, Heybridge, Latchingdon, Mayland, Maldon, Purleigh, Southminster, Tillingham, Tollesbury, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, and Woodham Walter.

10.6 School pupil roles, forecasts and capacities are published in the Essex School Organisation Plan 2000-2005. This plan is updated every year. It enables the Education Authority to continually review the need for temporary classrooms where there are declining roles. Conversely new housing developments are being monitored to ensure that appropriate classroom facilities are in place so that the schools do not become overcrowded.

10.7 There are no planned extensions to schools or new schools in the Maldon District Council area up to and including the 2002/03 financial year. Essex County Council, as Local Education Authority anticipates a possible shortfall in primary school places in Maldon, Heybridge, Southminster, Burnham-on-Crouch and Mayland to 2006 on the basis of new housing growth proposed in this Plan. These shortfalls may be met by the replacement of temporary accommodation with permanent facilities at some schools, by constructing extensions to schools or by a combination of both. The County Council does not foresee a need to provide additional secondary school places in the District, with accommodation at The Plume School, Maldon and St. Peter's High School, Burnham-on Crouch considered as adequate to meet the demands arising from new housing.

10.8 To assist in meeting the need for additional educational facilities arising from new housing, it is reasonable that developers should be expected to make a contribution towards them. This could be through the provision of land, buildings or finance. The level of contribution will depend on both the scale and type of housing proposed and the extent of existing school facilities in the locality of the site though the opportunities for achieving contributions are expected to be low in the Local Plan period. Contributions can only reasonably be expected as a result of housing likely to accommodate families. In each case, the Local Planning Authority will be guided by advice from the Local Education Authority on the specific need for contributions and the most appropriate form these should take. Essex County Council, as the Local Education Authority, publishes "Developer Contribution Guidelines" from which further advice can be obtained.

Social Services

10.9 Essex Social Services provides services for children and families, for vulnerable older people and disabled people. They also provide services for people with mental health difficulties, drug and alcohol problems. The Children's Act 1989 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 details the Service's responsibilities with regard to children and families.

10.10 The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 introduced "community care" and gave more emphasis to supporting people in the community. This has resulted in the need to provide accommodation in residential areas to enable people with mental and physical health problems to live safe and fulfilling lives within the community.

10.11 Apart from being pro-active Essex Social Services also has a regulatory function of registering not only the services operated by the organisation but also those run by the independent sector. The Service registers and regularly inspects care homes for children, adults and older people as well as day care facilities for children under eight.

Highways

10.12 This is dealt with in the Transport chapter.

Library Service

10.13 The Library Service continues to operate libraries at Maldon (open 51 hours per week), Burnham-on-Crouch (open 22 hours per week), Southminster (open 22 hours per week) and Wickham Bishops (open 10 hours per week). Hours of opening at Maldon Library have been increased since 1999 to include Sunday afternoons. The mobile library service operates on a weekly basis in all of the remaining parishes except Asheldham and Little Braxted. The new library at Maldon is complete and has been a very successful development.

Refuse Disposal

10.14 The planning and management of disposal and treatment of wastes is principally the responsibility of Essex County Council, the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA). The Essex Waste Local Plan provides a planning framework for future waste management sites. The licensing of waste disposal facilities is a matter for the Environment Agency and collection of refuse is organised by the District Councils.

10.15 Waste requiring final disposal is currently landfilled at Stanway, Colchester. This site has a finite life, probably until 2012. Because of lead times, new waste management facilities must be planned for now in a joint service or contract strategy produced by Waste Disposal Authority and the Waste Collection Authorities.

MALDON DISTRICT COUNCIL

Waste Collection and Recycling

10.16 Maldon District Council is a Waste Collection Authority (WCA) and has responsibility for collecting municipal solid waste for reprocessing, treatment, or final disposal. Despite distinct differences in responsibilities both WCA and WDA must ensure that all services are integrated and link together to ensure that any future regulatory requirements, such as the EU Landfill Directive, are met.

10.17 Since 1977 Maldon District Council has contracted out the refuse collection service to the private sector. Over time this service has developed and now a significant proportion of waste collected is recycled or reprocessed. The Government has recently set statutory recycling and recovery targets for both waste collection and disposal authorities. In order to meet the targets an increased percentage of waste will need to be reprocessed or treated (i.e. recycled or composted).

10.18 To help achieve the targets set out in The Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC), the Council has signed up to the Essex waste management strategy and refuse collection service includes, in many areas, direct kerbside collection of waste paper and glass from domestic property. New developments can also play a role in securing greater recycling of waste if collection facilities are planned as part of the overall layout and design and the Council will require that provision is made. This will give occupiers of the site, be it in residential, commercial or other use enhanced opportunities to recycle their waste. The scale of recycling facilities should match the scale of the development. New household development must have significant space for segregating waste at source with separate collection bins. Larger development that involves public access, such as supermarkets, should include "bring" facilities. Offices and factories must similarly include space to facilitate separating recyclable materials such as waste paper or swarf. This will be the subject of further clarification in the new design guidance to be published shortly. The Council will publish further advice as part of a forthcoming review of design issues.

Street Cleansing

10.19 As a principal litter authority, Maldon District Council has a statutory responsibility to keep the district clean and free from litter. To achieve this the District Council employs a contractor to carry out street cleansing functions on relevant land (e.g. highways and car parks) in the District.

10.20 Gully clearance and emptying is the responsibility of the Highways section of Essex County Council.

HEALTH

10.21 Maldon District lies within the area covered by Maldon & South Chelmsford Primary Care Trust (PCT). The majority of Acute Hospital services are provided to residents either at Broomfield (Chelmsford) or Basildon Hospitals.

10.22 The Primary Care Trust is working with other stakeholders to ensure that services which do not require the level of clinical support offered by acute hospitals, should be located as near to residents as possible.

10.23 The range of outpatient facilities provided at St Peters Hospital and local clinics will continue to be provided . Inpatient beds will remain part of St Peters Community Hospital providing a comprehensive rehabilitation service for Older People.

10.24 The inpatient, outpatient and community services provided at St Peters will continue to be developed. The PCT is committed to ensuring that modern healthcare services are provided to local residents. The PCT is working with other stakeholders to explore options for the future provision of health care facilities in the Maldon area, including the possibility of a new purpose-built hospital to replace St. Peters. Options for the location of such a new facility are being developed by the PCT in consultation with the District Council and other stakeholders. The PCT will look to develop further primary care facilities in areas of growing need such as Heybridge.

10.25 In Heybridge the growth of population has resulted in an ongoing the need to provide a health centre facility catering for the needs of the village. As a result of this, the District Council will continue to search for a suitable site for such a facility and includes community health facilities as one of the preferred uses for the former Houlding's garage site in policy M/SH/5. There are also particular problems in the delivery of health care facilities in Maldon and Southminster, which may be solved by additional premises.

10.26 Finding suitable sustainable locations within the development boundaries mentioned is extremely difficult, and one which the Local Plan cannot be of direct assistance. It is nonetheless of the highest priority and in policy terms would override any other protectionist policy, apart from specifically allocated land, for the urban areas included in the plan.

FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

10.27 Maldon is situated within East Division of the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. The level of Fire Service coverage is determined by the Home Office which allocates maximum turnout times to various categories of risk. Generally two fire appliances will attend all fires except minor ones. All the Stations within the Maldon District are "retained". The whole District has good coverage and falls within the statutory requirements of the Home Office. A day crewing fire station has been constructed at South Woodham Ferrers and will provide additional coverage of the Dengie Hundred area if required. A new fire station has been developed on part of this site. The allocation is retained at the request of the Fire and Rescue Service.

UTILITIES

Electricity

10.28 As the Replacement Local Plan does not propose a major increase in developed land in the District it is envisaged that changes will be limited to the following:

• Improving the supply,
• Alterations to the routing of the overhead supply to reflect changes in farming practices and land ownership, and
• Servicing of new employment allocations.

10.29 The closure of Bradwell Nuclear Power Station will result in the 132Kv line, which runs from the Station westwards, being redundant. If there are no plans for to replace the Power Station with an alternative type of power station in the foreseeable future, pressure will be placed on the supply company to remove the line.

Renewable Energy

10.30 Renewable energy is the term used to cover those energy flows that occur naturally and repeatedly in the environment - energy from the sun, the wind, rivers and oceans, and the fall of water. The heat from within the earth itself, geothermal energy, is usually regarded as renewable, although locally it cannot always sustain continuous extraction. Plant material is an important source of renewable energy. Combustible or digestible industrial, agricultural and domestic waste materials are also regarded as renewable sources of energy.

10.31 PPS22 entitled "Renewable Energy" outlines Government policy on renewable energy which is to stimulate the exploitation of renewable energy sources wherever they have prospects of being economically attractive and environmentally acceptable. The Government has set a target of achieving 10% of the UK electricity requirements being met from renewable by 2010. A report to the East of England Sustainable Development Round Table recommended a target of 9% for Essex as part of a regional target of 14%. The District Council will encourage proposals for renewable energy schemes and the integration of renewable energy generation into new developments where appropriate. Developers are also encouraged to enter into dialogue with the District Council to identify sites for renewable energy development.

Maldon, as a coastal district, has a greater potential to exploit the wind than any other source of renewable energy. Support for the Government's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has to be tempered by the importance of the coastline in this District in visual and nature conservation terms. Assessment of the visual impact of a proposal must take account of the likely numbers of people who may be affected as well as the scale of the proposal both in terms of individual components and overall impact and its relation to the surrounding landscape. Renewable technologies may generate small increases in noise levels, therefore, renewable energy development should be located and designed in such a way to minimise increases in ambient noise levels. In terms of ecology and conservation, it is necessary to identify whether the impact of development would harm the integrity of the identified feature.

Gas Supply

10.32 Mains gas supply is available to approximately half the population of the District. Large areas of the Dengie Hundred and north of the River Blackwater do not have mains supplies.

10.33 The extension of the gas infrastructure into this area is now a competitive market and a full list of Public Gas Transporters is available from OFGEM (Gas and Electricity Regulator). Transco has no plans to extend its infrastructure into this area.

Water Supply

10.34 Water supplies for the Maldon District are derived both from the Chelmer and Blackwater Rivers at Langford and from the Stour River at Stratford St Mary and Brantham. Essex and Suffolk Water have a long term plan ensuring that growth in demand for water throughout Essex can be met well into the future. The infrastructure supplying the Dengie are has recently been reinforced to cope with peak summer demands. The Company does not foresee any difficulties in providing water supplies to any of the future developments envisaged in the RLP.

Sewage Treatment and surface water disposal

10.35 Satisfactory provision must always be made for the proper disposal of sewage and effluent and surface water from all new developments. Anglian Water Services Ltd is the statutory undertaker. The Environment Agency, Maldon District Council and a number of other organisations have responsibilities relating to land drainage.

10.36 The 1990 Water Act gives the power to a water/sewage undertaker to require developers to pay a charge per property to reflect the demands made on infrastructure capacity by new domestic developments e.g. the responsibility for upgrading treatment works remains in financial terms with the statutory undertaker. As such any proposed development may have to be the subject of a phasing agreement between the developer, statutory undertaker and District Council. In order to establish the necessary requirements early consultation would be useful.

10.37 Developers will need to liaise closely with both Anglian Water and the Environment Agency to ensure the adoption of appropriate methods of sewage treatment and surface water disposal. The Environment Agency is keen to promote the use of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SUDs) for the disposal of surface water. The use of this system can reduce the pollution and flooding potential of surface water run-off, and can provide for aquifer recharge.

10.38 Land drainage is the responsibility of the Environment Agency whilst Anglian Water is responsible for the surface water sewerage system. Adequate arrangements will need to be made for the drainage of surface water in all developments. This may necessitate improvements to off-site-watercourses or mains in some instances, or require some form of attenuation. All new developments shall be provided with a separate surface water system discharging to either a natural watercourse or existing surface water infrastructure. Where redevelopment of existing sites occurs every opportunity should be taken to ensure surface water flows do not discharge to the foul sewerage system in order to safeguard the environment and reduce adverse impact on facilities. Anglian Water will resist any drainage proposal that envisages surface water being discharged to the foul sewerage system.

10.39 Attention should be given to PPG23 and the recommendations contained therein. For environmental reasons Anglian Water do not wish to see development within 400m of any Sewerage Treatment Works and should be consulted at the earliest opportunity to discuss the impact of any such development on treatment and operational processes. Development within 400m will be subject to specific conditions to reflect its proximity to the Works.

10.40 Certain parts of Maldon District are not on mains sewerage. These areas include Woodham Mortimer, Hazeleigh, Cock Clarks and Totham Plains. Unless major expansion was suggested the cost of a new works or a requisition scheme could be prohibitive. Proposals which rely on, non-mains sewerage systems, particularly those incorporating septic tanks, will need to be accompanied by proposals for their continued maintenance. Applications that include methods of sewage disposal other than connection to the public foul sewer will require justification in accordance with Circular 3/99 which will need to show that the proposals would not lead to significant environmental, amenity or public health problems in the area.

Telecommunications

10.41 During the last 20 years the telecommunication industry has undergone major changes, which are likely to continue into the future. The government opened the public telecommunication market to wider competition by granting licences to operators under the Telecommunications Act 1984. This has resulted in not only more choice for the consumer, but also an obligation on the planning system not to unreasonably obstruct the growth of the industry. Legislation has been introduced giving licensed operators (code system operators) special development rights under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995. Policies relating to the administration of this legislation are contained in the Built Environment chapter. Cable communications would be welcomed, providing that the installation of the system is not detrimental to visual amenity, roadside trees, protected verges G1 and G2 (Appendix 7) that are protected by policy M/CC/2 or the footpath/highway network in the District.

Bradwell Power Station

Existing Consultation Arrangements

10.42 The existing consultation arrangements for development proposals are described at paragraph 2.29 in the Constraints chapter. (This paragraph was originally paragraph 3.80)

Decommissioning

10.43 Bradwell Power Station shut down in March 2002. The station will then be decommissioned, a process by which the station is taken permanently out of service and is closed down in a careful and controlled way. The strategy proposed by British Nuclear Fuels is known as "Safestore". This involves four phases:

1. Defuelling
   All the nuclear fuel from the site will be removed and taken to Sellafield over two to three years, removing 99.9% of radioactivity from the site.

2. Works Phase
   Clearance and landscaping of the site over 10 years.

3. "Safestore" Period
   This is a passive period of monitoring, care and maintenance of the site for about 85 years. Intermediate level waste from the site will be stored on site until a national repository becomes available.

4. Site Clearance
   Dismantling of remaining buildings.

10.44 The decommissioning of the Station is being considered under the Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for decommissioning) Regulations 1999 S.I. No.2892. This requires an Environmental Assessment to be prepared and consent obtained from the Health and Safety Inspectorate of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. The District Council is a consultee in this process.

10.45 The District Council will be concerned to safeguard the rural and residential amenities of the District in its response to the Environmental Assessment and any development required as part of the decommissioning process, for example new storage facilities for existing waste on the site. This matter will also invoke waste disposal planning control, which is a function of Essex County Council through the Waste Local Plan. The District Council is also mindful to ensure that the removal of demolition materials and other residues from the site are transported on adequate roads and by rail and water.

10.46 The redevelopment of the site is not a consideration for this Plan given the length of the decommissioning process. Maldon District Council will consider reviewing the policies relating to the Bradwell Power Station site if decommissioning is completed during this Plan period and if the economic development of the District requires it. However, the Power Station site and land outside its confines lies within the Coastal Zone and therefore is subject to strict restraint policies applying to the coast and countryside.