Cousland Village

Recycling Centre Proposed for Smeaton Bing, Carberry

This page was last updated on: Monday, August 11, 2008 10:55 PM

Smeaton Bing from Chalkieside

Smeaton Bing from Chalkieside

Residents of the area surrounding Smeaton Bing which include Smeaton, Carberry, Crossgatehall, Whitecraig, Langsidehead and Chalkieside were issued a letter on 28th May 2008 by PPCA Ltd. Chartered Consultant Town Planners and Landscape Architects, Edinburgh. and Wardell Armstrong, regarding plans to develop Smeaton Bing into a 'hidden' recycling centre. Click here to view the original letter.

Following a community meeting at Whitecraig on 15th July 2008, the following details relating to the proposed development were made known. It was stressed at the meeting that these ideas are still in the very early investigatory stages and that these are in no way finalised yet. Proper planning consent has still to be obtained and the full results of environmental impact studies are to be made public before being granted approval.

A map showing the proposed area surrounding Smeaton Bing near Carberry

The image above shows a map of the proposed area surrounding Smeaton Bing near Carberry. Click on the image to see a larger version.

'Hidden Recycling Centre'

Hamilton Waste and Recycling Ltd. have aquired the Smeaton Bing site (see map above) and are looking into the possibility of reshaping the bing to create a hidden site for a recycling centre. The idea would be to lower and hollow out the bing, and use the material to develop a screen around the perimeter between the site and surrounding properties. The natural surroundings of the bing would be maintained as far as possible.

The outer screen or 'bund' would be landscaped to conceal specialist site buildings within. The buildings would house recycling plant machinery and would be specially designed to control noise pollution. This outer bund wall would extend right to the edge of the road with sloping sides of approximately 1:3 gradient. The overall height of the bund wall is not yet known. The main entrance to the site would be via the South road (B6414) although there are 3 other potential access points still to be decided on.

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Waste Materials

The nature of the materials that will be recycled on site are mostly inert, non-toxic industrial waste materials gathered from building sites or demolition projects located across the Midlothian and East Lothian counties. This material would likely include concrete blocks, plasterboards, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, glass and wood. Some organic material may be composted at the site although it was said that this will be only minimal in order to control potential smell, pests and vermin.

Nothing on site will be incinerated and there will be no fires.

It is intended that some of the revenue earned from the recycling centre be used to improve and maintain the area surrounding the site.

The nearest comparable example of the type and scale of operation that would be carried out at Smeaton Bing is located at Drem in East Lothian. This site is also owned and operated by Hamilton Waste and Recycling Ltd. More details on the Drem facility are available on the company's website at www.hamiltonwaste.com.

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Waste Throughput

The anticipated input and output volume of waste materials on a regular basis is not yet known, however it would not be unreasonable to expect somewhere in excess of 100 lorry-loads of material per day to access the site or roughly 50 lorries depositing unprocessed waste and 50 lorries removing sorted, processed materials and aggregate from the site.

The type of vehicles accessing the site frequently would be skip lorries and not the large, articulated tipper lorries. Lorries might forseeably access the site from the A1 (Wallyford junction) or via the Dalkeith bypass, though Whitecraig, then via the A6214 Carberry - Inveresk road, turning right at the Crossgatehall traffic lights. They may also potentially use the B6414 through Elphinstone.

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Operational Hours and Lifespan

This information is not known yet, however it could be expected that the site's normal hours of operation might be from 6.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday and potentially also on Saturday mornings.

Hamilton Waste and Recycling Ltd. is a family business and it is anticipated that the recycling business would be passed down through the family. Therefore it could be assumed that this will be a permanent facility.

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Security

The land at the site at Smeaton Bing is currently in an unstable and unsafe condition. Further studies are still to be conducted but is widely anticipated that the current land owner will need to take necessary steps to prevent public access in the interest of safety.

In the long term, the proposed development would require 24 hour security. This would probably require the erection of high-level wire fencing, lockable entrance gates, possibly closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance and floodlighting at night times.

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Employment

Around 15 to 20 jobs could be created as a result of the development.

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Smeaton Bing from Crossgatehall

Smeaton Bing from Crossgatehall

Environmental Studies

Environmental studies are currently being carried out to look at the potential impacts of the proposed development. The studies will involve surveys and measurements on the site and the adjacent land. Among many other things it will include noise and vibration testing. The studies will form part of an Environmental Statement to accompany any future planning application for development on the bing.

It is expected that any studies and plans will take several months to draw up to a stage where these can be presented. PPCA Ltd. have indicated that a scoping report and environmental study may be ready before the end of 2008, with a non-technical summary and a more detailed report being produced at some point after this. We will post what information we get on this website as soon as we receive it.

There are no plans to remove or landscape the area of woodland which lies to the North and North West of Smeaton bing.

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Community Meeting

Whitecraig Community Council held an open meeting on 15th July 2008 at Whitecraig Community Centre to discuss the cumulative impact of the proposed recycling centre.

Neil Sutherland the Senior Planning Manager of PPCA Ltd. Chartered Consultant Town Planners and Landscape Architects, Edinburgh and Haig Hamilton, owner of Hamilton Waste and Recycling, showed a set of preliminary drawings of the site and briefly explained the current status of the proposal development.

Residents of Carberry, Smeaton, Crossgatehall, Cousland and Whitecraig asked a number of questions concerning the cumulative impact of this planning. We have included as many of the responses as we can in the information contained on this page. If you were at the meeting and there is anything we might have missed or if there is anything incorrect then please inform the webmaster (see further information and contacts at the bottom of this page).

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What is a Bing?

Bing is a Scots word meaning to heap or pile up but it is also used to describe a slag heap. In Scotland, the main type of bing is coal or mineral spoil from deep mining.

For an in-depth description of bings, read this web page.... http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/advisorynotes/50/50.htm

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Smeaton Bing

Smeaton Bing

About Smeaton Bing

Smeaton Bing lies on the outer edge of the Edinburgh Green Belt, at Carberry in East Lothian. The site crosses the route of the old Smeaton to Saltoun railway line (closed in 1960) and the area has been in a derelict and disused condition for many years. The area to the West of Smeaton bing was the site of the old Dalkeith colliery. There were also pits located to the East, along the route of the old railway, towards Elphinstone, Limeylands and Ormiston and these were mined intensively up until the 1960s.

Beneath the bing are the remains of the mining community of Smeaton village which was abandoned around the late 1950s.

Transfer of land from Green Belt status

The bing was formerly co-owned by Scottish Coal and Buccleuch Estates Limited and was purchased by Hamilton Waste and Recycling Ltd. in March 2008. The land was formerly designated as Green Belt, however it is understood that East Lothian Council formally approved the re-designation of its status to Development Control Policy DC1 in view of more flexible planning policy approach to restoration of the land on 27th November 2007. Page 13 of the following document refers to this....

Word Document Finalised East Lothian Local Plan 2005 Report of Public Local Inquiry - Statement Of Decisions On Reporter’s Recommendations Director of Environment Environment Department.

Word Document Smeaton Bing Green Belt. This is a copy of a letter sent by the Director of Environment at East Lothian Council to Mrs. C Lindsay of Carberry Residents Group on 1st July 2008 regarding the removal of Smeaton Bing from Green Belt status.

PDF Document  Edinburgh Greenbelt Study (PDF download 4.29Mb). The last page of this document has a very good map showing designated green belt land surrounding Edinburgh.

Development Control Policy DC1

Proposals for all forms of development will generally require to conform to the following criteria:

  1. Not result in a significant loss of character or amenity to the area.
  2. Be of a size, scale and design in keeping with the locality.
  3. Reflect local architecture and design.
  4. Not constitute ‘backland’ development without a road frontage.
  5. Not involve a significant loss of trees or other important landscape features or valuable habitats and species.
  6. Ensure that landscaping is an integral element in layout design, taking account of existing physical features (e.g. trees, hedgerows, walls, etc.). Where appropriate, tree planting should augment the amenity and appearance of the site.
  7. Ensure that the standards for ‘Open Space’ are satisfied.
  8. Meet the parking and access requirements of the Council and provide appropriate mitigation to minimise the impact of new development (see).
  9. Not prejudice the amenity of neighbouring properties by unreasonably restricting sunlight, daylight or privacy.
  10. Seek to create safe and secure environments and reduce the scope for fear and crime.
  11. Be designed to meet disabled needs and include provision for disabled access within public areas.
  12. Ensure that the design of all street and communal lighting and any flood lighting forming part of, or associated with the development, seeks to minimise the extent of light pollution caused.

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Further Information and Contacts

For further information relating to this proposed development, please contact the Secretary of Carberry Residents Group at carberry2008@hotmail.com

You can also send any comments, weblinks or other articles of interest to webmaster@cousland.net

Mailing list

If you would like to be kept informed by email of this development, please subscribe to the village mailing list and choose 'Smeaton Bing Development' from the list of options. We will keep you updated with all news, events, discussions and other information relating to this development as soon as we receive it.

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Links

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