Well, it is time for a bit of an update on waste matters on Westonzoyland Airfield.

Firstly, the planning application SCC/4138/2026 submitted by Towens to regularise their waste activities off Springway Lane. https://planning.somerset.gov.uk/Planning/Display?applicationNumber=SCC%2F4138%2F2026 

You may have heard through the village grapevine that three representatives from the Towens team came to the Annual Parish Meeting on 11^th May to read out a statement about their planning application and answer questions. Unfortunately, this wasn’t described on the Agenda, so most of us didn't know that this was happening. 

The good news is that the Parish Council have requested a copy of the statement so it can hopefully be included in the Minutes for everyone to read. They have also suggested that there is another meeting (better advertised) which would let more of us come along, hear any updates and ask questions. 

You will be able to read the Agenda and the Minutes for the meetings on 11^th May 2026 here when they are published on the website: https://westonzoyland-pc.gov.uk/council/parish-meetings/ .

Dear supporters,

Many apologies for being quiet over the past couple of weeks. Its been a busy time trying to get responses prepared and submitted for the Towens planning application at Planning Register : Somerset County Council, but we have also had some much deserved down-time over the Spring break. We are continuing our fund-raising to cover recent costs.

Doesn't the Somerset Levels and Moors look stunningly beautiful in the spring sunshine!

Anyway, thank you to all of you that have submitted a response to the planning application. If you  haven't got around to this yet, you still have almost 2 weeks until the consultation expiry date of 24th April 2026. What has been sent in so far?

1. Our Air Quality consultant and Somerset Council Environmental Health have both commented on the lack of an up-to-date Dust Management Plan, which should consider impacts from the harmful PM2.5 and other particulates to protect local residents and employees of businesses close by.

2. Our Acoustic consultant has modelled the noise outputs associated with the proposals in the planning application. These suggest that the noise levels and characteristics affecting those close to the site could have a significant adverse effect. The differences between this and the noise assessment report provided by the Applicant seem to focus around the height of the noise sources and underestimation of noise from HGV traffic. 

3. The Environment Agency are concerned about the risk of pollution of groundwater, and have said in their response "To reduce the risks to people and the environment and obtain appropriate environmental permit, the design may need to include abatement technology to reduce the impact of the development beyond Best Available Techniques (BAT)." As things stand their response is an objection.

What next?

We are still asking for an EIA - an Environment Impact Assessment - to be carried out, and have pointed out what we believe are errors or omissions from the application documents including the Flood Risk Assessment and Hydrology Report, and the EcIA (Ecological Report) / the location of the site from the SSSI, which is around 30m not 60m. We are also questioning aspects of the Transport note.

Please consider making a donation to support these efforts to protect our environment and the health and amenity of those living and working in and around Westonzoyland.

Thank you

Say No to Waste N' Zoyland

Hello supporters, and welcome if you are new to our campaign page!

Donations are needed to top up our funds again! 

We won on getting the extension to the consultation deadline, and got the Variation V002 decision by the EA legally quashed. Now we have another challenge - to review and respond to the latest planning application from Towens.

This new planning application currently undergoing consultation. You can find this on the Somerset Council Planning register in the Minerals and Waste section at Planning Register : Somerset County Council, with the application number SCC/4138/2026.  The new planning application says that  a "parallel application for a Permit Variation is currently under consideration by the Environment Agency". Remember that in their permit application Towens asked the EA to increase throughput for the washplant site from 50,000 to 200,000 tonnes a year, change some of the waste codes so the site could operate to treat predominantly non-hazardous wastes and to permit use of the wash plant, still closed down due to the EA stop notice. It is a little difficult to understand why the planning application is not asking for the same thing as the Environmental Permit variations are seeking.

The new planning application includes the washplant site and the area next to it that we know locally as The Old Orchard (immediately above the homes of the Old Airfield Camp). It is asking for planning permission to operate the wash plant to treat inert waste, but doesn't refer to the higher risk non-hazardous wastes that we know are the main focus of the environmental permit application.

It also states that they will keep to the original maximum 50,000 tonnes a year throughput (for now at least) and want to use the Old Orchard as a storage area for products. This does not necessarily mean that the original planning application will be revoked, but could 'sit on the back burner' until it is 'needed again'. The new application if granted might lead to new conditions, which are important for protecting the amenity and health of local residents, the environment including the SSSI and to ensure safety for road users. However a report in Somerset Live in January 2026 stated that "The council has struggled to recruit enforcement officers in recent years, with more than 1,000 enforcement cases remaining open and  unresolved as of September 2025 - a rise of nearly ten percent on the previous year. The council's chief planning officer has now publicly admitted that the council is relying on enforcement officers from another local authority - which is based more than 150 miles away." We believe that waste operations should not be given planning permission on a site so close to the SSSI if the council are unable to monitor the site, and initiate effective enforcement action swiftly if there is any more unauthorised development or breaches of planning conditions, particularly as there are additional environmental risks from running a wash plant, including how much water is needed.

There are also proposed changes to access routes between the site and the A372 - written in Appendix G - Transport Note. This will allow all the HGVs and skips to use Springway Lane opposite Burdenham Drove, as well as the main entrance. How will this be managed with so much HGV and LGV traffic heading out onto the airfield, causing the road condition to deteriorate? How will this affect other road users on Springway Lane or the A372?

How much of the traffic will come through the village. With the old planning application we were told that there would be no sales from the site? Why is the application for the Environmental Permit so different to the Planning Application? As the planning application does not include the Kleen Kutt site, this site now needs to be restored, and its biodiversity and the underlying peat soil in the southern part allowed to recover - this was the condition of the temporary planning permission granted in 2024 and we say that it should be happening right now!

Please look through the consultation documents - we will be doing this carefully too! Find time to respond to the consultation. The application contains much the same dust management plan, noise impact assessment and noise management plan as we reviewed in the EA Permit variation application. We responded to that one with comments about problems with both management plans. If you have any experience of the severity or impact of dust or noise from the site, please put that down in your response to the planning application. Any noise or dust happening now you should complain to Somerset Council Environmental Health and the Environment Agency incident line, as they will have to consider complaints when responding to the planning application as consultees. Contact our county councillor Diogo Rodrigues if you want help responding to the consultation. Contact our MP Sir Ashley Fox to tell them about how you feel about the planning application and permit consultations. Let Westonzoyland Parish Council (email address =  [email protected]) know what you feel about the application to help them respond to it as well.

Encourage others to respond to the planning application, spread the word to groups like Somerset Wildlife or the RSPB, or to anyone else that might be interested. Any ideas for a fund raiser to help? What about a petition?

Encourage others to contribute to our fund, because every donation can make a difference for the work done on the EA permit and the council planning application.

Thank you to you all,

Say No to Waste N' Zoyland!

Dear supporters,

We can now share some good news with you all!

We have received the Sealed Order from the High Court of Justice in Cardiff that the decision by the Environment Agency to allow the V002 variation last summer has been quashed. Thank you to all parties for agreeing with this Order.

What did the the documents for the V002 permit ask for?

V002: To increase throughput for site from 50,000 to 200,000 tonnes a year, introduce additional waste codes including off-specification compost, street cleaning residues, solid screenings and filtration waste from water treatment works, solid wastes from soil treatment. To classify site as a low-impact installation.

What does this tell us?

We were right to question the granting of the V002 variation to the permit last summer!

What next?

We hope that your contributions to the EA consultation process will be useful in determining what extra evidence / reports / factors need to be evaluated before the right decision can be made on these variations, and therefore any potential harm to the SSSI / conservation sites and to local residents can be avoided.

What can you do now?

We need to continue our fund raising to cover our part of the cost of getting V002 quashed by the Court. 

Please help us to reach the target of £5000 in the next 10 days. Spread the word!

Thank you

The acoustic report submitted with our response to the permit variation consultation tells us a bit about noise, its significance and impact on health and amenity.

Noise Policy Statement for England

The Noise Policy Statement for England (NPSE) is referred to in the NPPF. Published in March 2010, the NPSE aims to provide clarity regarding current policies and practices as well as enabling noise decisions to be made within the wider context, at the most appropriate level, in a cost effective manner and in a timely fashion. It applies to all forms of noise including environmental noise, neighbour and neighbourhood noise. The NPSE sets out the long-term vision of the Government's noise policy. This is supported 'through the effective management and control of environmental, neighbour and neighbourhood noise within the context of Government policy on sustainable development: 

• avoid significant adverse effects on health and quality of life; 

• mitigate and minimise adverse impacts on health and quality of life; and 

• where possible, contribute to the improvement of health and quality of life.' 

The NPSE introduces the concept of 'effect levels' to relate the impact of noise to the stated policy aims. 

• No observed effect level (NOEL) — This is the level below which no effect can be detected. Below this level, there is no detectable effect on health and quality of life due to noise. 

• Lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) — This is the level at which adverse effects on health and quality of life can be detected. 

• Significant observed adverse effect level (SOAEL) — This is the level at which significant adverse health effects start to occur

Hi Supporters,

Thanks to you we have doubled our fund already this week!  This will continue to support the work that we are doing with Richard Buxton Solicitors and the experts.

We appreciate each and every donation. It has been lovely to read your supportive comments, although very small number of comments have been moderated recently because they did not meet with the standards of this CrowdJustice site.

Our next update should be with you over the weekend!  Thank you again. 

Hello supporters!

It is nearly one month since the closing date for the public consultation on the two permit variations, yet several of the responses have not yet been uploaded to the consultation page - the attachments seem to be missing! In the mean time, here are some conclusions from the Air Quality consultant:

• "While the application provides some information regarding dust sources on the site there has been no assessment of the impacts of the emissions from these sources apart from a subjective SPR type assessment. 
• There has been no cumulative assessment of the impacts from the new activities proposed combined with the existing activities on site. 
• No new dust impact assessment has been provided despite the proposal to increase the capacity of the site from 50,000 – 200,000 tonnes and the processing of material likely to contain fine particulate matter. 
• The dust management plan is based on the assumption that current operations at the site do not result in unacceptable impacts although some visual evidence shows this is not the case and complaints have been made to the local EHO. 
• The proposed monitoring is very limited and provides no offsite monitoring nor any instrumented monitoring that is now standard practice for construction sites in England.   
• There is no monitoring data available to demonstrate that there are no offsite PM10/PM2.5 impacts although these have been noted from similar construction activities. 
• Without this further information, the community does not have sufficient information to determine whether the proposal will result in acceptable impacts on nearby residential receptors and designated sites for nature conservation."

What are PM10 and PM2.5?

The main forms of particulate matter considered to have potential environmental impacts are fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). These are size fractions that are capable of passing into the lungs and potentially then causing harm, especially in vulnerable groups of people such as the young, elderly and those with respiratory problems. Clay, silt and the filter cake wash plant waste (cohesive fill) particles all fit into these categories.

This is why your support is so important. Please continue to encourage others to contribute and to support our campaign

We have 5 days to reach our stretch target of £3000. Please encourage your neighbours to contribute, after all the extra traffic, dust and noise could affect them too! Both the ACT Acoustic report and the Air Quality Consideration note say that the combined effect of the whole Towens site should be considered.

Google Earth shows you how the whole Towens waste processing zone has been developed since the original environmental permit was issued in 2020. We believe that the whole site should have an Environment Impact Assessment carried out because of the risks due to its size, the volume and type of wastes that the new permit variations are looking to include and the additional environmental risk from operating a wash plant with 200,000 tonnes of waste a year. Environmental Health such as health impacts from dust, particulates and noise, as well as Ecological impacts on the Langmead and Weston Level SSSI and further afield, the ground water and aquifer and the archaeological importance of the area. At the minute the only part that the Environmental Permit consultation considers is the golf-club shaped area to the left of the photograph.

Here is a link to the responses page for Towens of Weston Ltd EPR/HB3004KS/Variation V002 and Variation V003 (environmental permit consultation):

Response 230632173 to TA7 0JS, Towens of Weston Ltd, EPR/HB3004KS/V002 & EPR/HB3004KS/V003: environmental permit consultation - Environment Agency - Citizen Space

Please help us to reach the stretch target of £3,000 towards the work that has been done to prepare this response. Share with your friends, family and anyone else who cares about our village, community, health and upholding the legal protection of our countryside and SSSIs against potential harm.

Some comments on Social Media have suggested that we are NIMBY's which suggests that we are "persons who object to the siting of something perceived as unpleasant or hazardous in the area where they live, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere". it is often used in a negative way to suggest that we are being unreasonable!

The parish council and others have been saying to the EA and to Somerset Council since 2023 that the operation of a wash plant was not covered by the existing environmental permit or by the conditions of the planning conditions for 1/53/18/00012. This may have taken a while to be heard, however when the EA visited part of the Towens site during the summer of 2025, they identified three areas of non-compliance, and published these in a CAR (compliance assessment report), confirming that operation of the waste wash plant was not covered by the existing permit, and therefore Towens would need to apply for a variation to their permit.  We have included a link to the CAR HB3004KS_RD_0578072_20252912.pdf on the EA Environmental Permit register website (View permit HB3004KS). We are pleased that there has been another CAR published since this one confirming that Towens are complying with the Stop Notice and have not been using the wash plant to treat waste (HB3004KS_SI_0585499_20251024.pdf.) which you can also read on the same permit webpage. 

We don't think it unreasonable for questions to be asked and answered that allow a fully informed consultation involving us, the local community and experts before any decision is made about whether operating a wash plant and increasing throughput 4X (next to residents, the SSSI and places of employment) is in line with environmental laws, and whether the potential health and environmental impacts are considered fully, and whether they can be reduced to an acceptable level so as not to cause harm.

We are so grateful for all your support, and please continue to spread the word to your friends and families to help us raise the funds to cover the cost of the acoustic report. The updated target has been increased to £3,000.

We will be telling you how to find this report and the Say No to Waste N'Zoyland consultation response with our next update.

Thank you again!

Your contributions have already covered the cost of an air quality response which has considered the potential for the proposed increase in throughput to generate dust and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). The next target will help to fund the response to the noise impact assessment and the work of Richard Buxton in collating and submitting our response last week to the EA consultation as supported by expert opinion. Thank you for everything that you are continuing to do! 

Stay safe and drive carefully in the floods.

Say No to Waste N'Zoyland.