Praa Sands beach sewage scheme plans get approved

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
View attachment 193
The go-ahead has been given for a sewage scheme to pump waste into a stream on one of Cornwall's beaches.
The scheme at Praa Sands will handle sewage from the nearby Praa Sands Holiday Park.
Cornwall Council members approved the plan on Tuesday night, but added that tough conditions would be in place to protect the beach near Helston.
An environmental study must be carried out before it starts and safeguards put in place in case of accidents.
The holiday park currently deals with sewage by using septic tanks and soakaways. The effluent in tanks is then taken away in tankers.
The planned treatment works would produce up to 150,000 litres of effluent a day, and treated sewage discharged into the stream which crosses the beach.
Campaigners against the plans said they were concerned about possible health risks.

Nearby Resident Tanis Board added that the plans could upset people staying at the complex, as well as those living nearby.
She said: "They will want their children to play in that stream and in the pool.
"Will they be happy to think their wee is coming down the stream and swirling round their children?"
Cornwall Council planners said the sewage works could only go ahead if it got the all-clear in the environmental study.
Councillor Andrew Wallace: "What they're going to discharge, if all the systems are in place and working, is clean water.
"The worry is that if any of the systems fail, it won't be clean.
"I think we have to mitigate against all the likelihood of that happening by separate conditions so as to mitigate against any discharge into the sea itself."
The company which runs the park, the Haulfryn Group, said sewage would get the highest level of treatment.
Company planning agent Jeremy Lambe said: "We're very pleased with the outcome. It was the right decision.
"The proposal is a significant environmental enhancement and improvement on the existing foul drain arrangements at Praa Sands and its is a significant benefit for all parties."
 

tabtab13

Active Member
Mmmmm ... I thought we had moved away from pumping our waste into streams (or the sea) in any form. Apparently not - or perhaps I'm just misinformed. If things like this are meant to be so 'safe', then why the need for safe guards in case of accidents? I think in situations like this, the worse case scenario needs to be looked at and what that effect would be if something did go pear-shaped in a big way. Nice bit of 'company speak' from Jeremy Lambe at the end ...
 

treeve

Major Contributor
A common enough thought in these cases is that if it can go wrong, it probably will ... the problem is that the holiday village is a necessity, which generates sewage ... sewage treatment is highly sophisticated, it has to be said, in the case of liquids, the use of macerating and elutriating equipment takes treatment a stage further, unfortunately the scale and pressure involved will possibly bring pressures to bear on that system and subsequently upon the stream. In a word, money means technique goes out of the window at a board meeting; by which time it has been approved.
 

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
Bluntly put but here goes.
South West Water is the only water authority to make consistent profits well above any other water company. It also has the highest water charge in the UK and quite likely Europe.
They get away with this because they say Cornwall has the largest coastline and they need to charge extra to deal with this.
Yet on the other hand here we are allowing a company that makes a staggering profit to dump sewerage straight in to the sea.
There really is only one reason why this is happening, and that's because it's the cheapest option and nobody objected.
 
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