BASS REC – DIESEL MUNIO water/sewage pumping station update

11/4/2023 MUNIO now being built on Bass Rec. A planning application for housing opposite is also being considered. Housing in an Air Quality Management Area combined with a giant diesel fumes spewing pumping station, in a ward lacking public open space. Nice. It probably won’t be operational for the stormfront forecast for this week, across derbyshire, and worsened by the climate crisis. Unitary authority Derbyshire county council has actively worsened floodrisk in Derby, by granting unsustainable housing all along the upstream banks of River Derwent, increasing runoff, removing floodplain/carbon-rich. wildlife habitat areas, destroying the river valley. But of course, they know better https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21005367

30/6/2022 The outdated, energy-wasting, MUNIO pumping station (PuS) is being built on Bass Rec. Claims have been made, that it will pump out Allestree and the city centre. The PuS will increase floodrisk to Alvaston, Elvaston, Elvaston, Chaddesden, Spondon, Thulston, Elvaston Castle and downstream Raynesway nuclear reactor too (evacuated twice in last 3 years due to River Derwent flooding – see 2019 flooding photo on A38 page) and cause the River Derwent to flow faster, instead of slowing it down. Declaring a climate emergency, then doing nothing about it- Derby city council act in the opposite way; the unsustainable developments they’re supporting, or applying for themselves, come thick and fast. (the latest is 3 fossilfuel plastic football pitches on the Racecourse ground, Chaddesden, destroying biodiversity, worsening floodrisk, again)

The PuS developers have stated that they will return the grassland and plant more trees after PuS is built. NB Pumping stations account for 35% of Environment Agency carbon emissions.

We thank our solicitors and National Friends of the Earth for assistance

April 2022 In late 90s, Derby people saved Bass Rec, with help from Tree Dwellers who moved onto Bass Rec and lived in the trees. Bass Rec was given to the people of Derby in 1865-7, by Michael Thomas Bass, the brewer. It has a restricted Covenant on the land, that it is only for recreation use, by the people of Derby (Charity Commission no.1076311)

TO INCLUDE IN OBJECTIONS, in this #CHILDRENSMENTALHEALTHWEEK2022

Plans are in breach of City of Derby Local Pan policies on air pollution, trees, parks, biodiversity

DCC have submitted a planning application (the form is full of ‘being economical with the truth’, that no trees will be affected, no floodrisk elsewhere etc) for a road into Bass Rec, to serve a pumping station, (part of outdated Munio ‘flood defences’) ostensibly to pump out surface water from Markeaton Brook, that runs into Mill Fleam, see first pic. These are valuable grasslands, #wetlands, part of the #bluegreeninfrastructure now being espoused worldwide. https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21005367?fbclid=IwAR2TBmfwjldtzCHm19exk4ivL893McrtcEdxaPs9U81BhET-HxBJhtmk0zU… Children using Bass Rec (and the other city parks at risk of unsustainable development – Markeaton, Elvaston Castle) will have to watch as councils enact their ‘duty of care’ to them. Yet trees and vegetation are needed, especially by older people and children, in polluted cities such as Derby https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/ukairpollutionremovalhowmuchpollutiondoesvegetationremoveinyourarea/2018-07-30

Send objections to developmentcontrol@derby.gov.uk, quoting the Plan App no. 22/00104/FUL. Or you can use the eplanning website, Bass Rec documents here https://eplanning.derby.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=externalDocuments&keyVal=R62HVBFSG5F00 -click on documents etc. Get a receipt for objections. The full set of consultation docs is still going in, so theres any extension to objection time, till 14th April. A tree survey has been submitted, AFTER the trees have been destroyed. Disgusting. Lists of Derby Councillors here https://democracy.derby.gov.uk/Councillors/Councillorsbyward.aspx

PLanning Control Committee Councillors, especially if your Cllr is on this committee as they’ll be deciding on the plan app https://democracy.derby.gov.uk/Committees/tabid/101/ctl/ViewCMIS_CommitteeDetails/mid/734/id/1900/Default.aspx

Members of Parliament http://www.writetothem.com

PLANS INCREASE FLOODRISK

Add to objections that the pumping station will be flooded by the River Derwent (see pics here https://derbyfoe.com/2019/11/08/derby-floods-8-11-2019/) and will increase floodrisk to people downstream, in Alvaston, Borrowash, Elvaston, Thulston and beyond, as well as the #RollsRoyce nuclear reactor on Raynesway, from which 200 workers had to be evacuated in Nov 2019 and Feb 2022

TREES AND AIR POLLUTION

Points to include in objections – that the City of Derby Local PLan Core Strategy is supposed to save Derby parks, trees, green spaces. The plans are in breach of the principles of the National Planning Policy Framework on Nature and Biodiversity and Policies CP16 and CP19 of the Derby City Local Plan – Part 1 – Core Strategy in relation to the impact upon biodiversity and ecology, as well as other policies supposed to protect against MORE #airpollution. Trees and vegetation absorb air pollution https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/ukairpollutionremovalhowmuchpollutiondoesvegetationremoveinyourarea/2018-07-30 and are vital in cities. #Derby is one of 6 Government designated ‘Clean Air Zones’ in which Derby people are breathing substandard air, which does not meet UK Air Quality Standards.

The Paris Agreement is also breached as it is supposed to protect those sectors of the community, who are not able to defend themselves.

WILDLIFE AND COUNTRYSIDE ACT, SUSTAINABILITY

@JBAconsulting, who advised on the ecological assessment, mainly from their desks, did not even acknowledge the presence of white-clawed crayfish (we saw these) JBA claim on their website to ‘help control the environment’. That’s worked so far, hasn’t it. The plans are in breach of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Other birds/wildlife seen there include little egret, kingfishers, herons, all feeding on various invertebrates in Mill Fleam. Again, the plans are in breach of CDLP ‘sustainable development’ policies, claiming to protect resources, nature, wildlife, natural resources. You could even mention the Brundtland Convention, which DCC are supposed to ensconce within their various work, that ‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Other Twitter hashtags we’re using to send out planetary SOS’s, are #generationrestoration #fornature #forpeopleforplanet #floodrisk This weeks hashtag is #childrensmentalhealthweek or #childrensmentalhealthweek2022