Odour Management Plan – Sussex

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Odour Management Plan – Sussex

Southwest Environmental Limited have recently prepared an Odour Management Plan for a Nail Bar in Crawley, Sussex. The salon type establishment was sited within a busy shopping precinct. Our client had been requested by his local council to provide an odour management plan.

We were asked to prepare this document on a 3 working day turn around which we were just about able to do. We referenced industry codes of practices and focussed on the main causes of odour such as vapours and dust.

The odour management plan is a working document, and we aim to write such a report as simply as possible, with useful forms and survey checklists included for easy reference.

Odour Management Sussex

Expert Planning Objection – London

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Expert Planning Objection – London


Southwest Environmental Limited (Environmental Consultants) were contacted by a residents group, who were trying to contest an application for a school in their neighbourhood. The residents group were concerned about the extra traffic generated by the proposed development and also as to whether the site was indeed suite for the intended use. 

An expert planning objection was prepared by Southwest Environmental we were requested that we limit our comments to those relating to air quality, although we would have happily commented on daylighting, traffic, or noise in this instance. 

The proposed school was situated on a busy junction, which has been subject to monitoring, for nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide has been shown to have chronic effects on the health of adults and children alike, although at present the is a great deal of uncertainty regarding safe exposure levels. 



To that end the European Union has set targets of 40ugm3 as an annual mean, and the site exceeds these values. There are have been various studies[1] that point to unsatisfactory air quality in the area, yet reports submitted in support of planning appear to show that this is not the case thus indicating a discrepancy.

In 2014 The European Commission launched legal proceedings against the UK for failing to deal with air pollution. The EU reasoning behind case this was that levels of nitrogen dioxide, mainly from diesel engines, are “excessive” in many British cities. The Commission noted in its written statement at the time that nitrogen dioxide gas can lead to major respiratory illnesses and premature deaths.



It is important to note that there is no safe level set for exposure to nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide is converted to nitric acid in the lungs, and this can exacerbate illnesses such as asthma, and other respiratory conditions. Studies[1] note the clear “associations between NO2 and respiratory problems among children”.

Odour Impact Assessment for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant – Devon

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Odour Impact Assessment for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant

Acting on instruction from a client based in the greater London area, SWEL are to prepare an Odour Impact Assessment for a Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant in Devon.

The Anaerobic Digestion Plant  is to use agricultural feed stock in to produce gas, and ultimalty genrate electrcial energy vis the use of gas engines to feed in to the grid.

As solar and wind capacity increases  and base load capacity decreases, the UK must fill the gap. Anaerobic Digestion Plants offer the possibility of storing gas produced, and generating power when it is needed.

Odour Modelling

The odur impact assessment was conducted using odor concentrations derived from secondary sources, in the most part peer review scientific papers. These values were then used in a model to derive am odour concentration at near by receptors.

The model used was aeromod, which is the preferred modelling system used in the UK and USA. In fact the model was produced in the USA, by their equivalent of the Environment Agency the EPA.

The model works, by caluclating dispersion, and also “averaging” out plume concentrations based on wind directions. There are various parameters that can be changed, in cluding atmopshric stibility etc.

Owing to the comparatively low odor emissions from the proposed agricultural feed stock the odour impacts are very low.

SWEL can conduct Odour Impact Assessments on a quick turnaround and also offer odour modelling services, to air quality professionals.

Environment Agency Flood Data – Thames Estuary

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Until recently I was using the following email address to get flood data and maps for the thames estuary:

corporate.services@environment-agency.gov.uk

this email account will soon be closed, the new email to use to contact us will be

ensenquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Despite having used the original address for a number of years I received no notice that it would be changed, and have found out the above via lengthy googling.

Hopefully it will save you the time!

In this day an age, would it not have been possible to email past customers to tell them about the change prior to closing the account?

Flood Risk

Sustainability Statement – Nottingham

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Sustainability Statement – Nottingham 

Acting on instructions from a repeat client, SWEL are to prepare a sustainability statement for a car show room in Nottingham.

The car show room is a new build, and will incorporate a wealth of sustainability features.  The report submitted complements existing plans and specifications, whilst meeting requires for content set by the local planning authority.

The sustainability report includes modelling of the building envelope using SBEM, and will include renewable obligations set by the LPA.

Sustainability Consultants

Geotechncial Site Investigation – Devon

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Site Investigation – Devon

Acting upon instruction from a management company located SWEL are to undertake a Geotechnical ivestigations at a holiday park near Totnes.
SWEL provide a wide range of geotechnical and environmental services to support our clients with there chosen projects. 
In this case SWEL are to prepare a retrospective specification for a raft foundation, to satisfy the local authorities requirements. The slab as stands, would appear to be installed to a very high standard, and is liklley over specified, and reside upon desnse gravels.

Flood Risk Assessment – Bristol

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Flood Risk Assessment – Bristol

SWEL have been commissioned to prepare a flood risk assessment for a mixed use development in Bristol.

The scheme comprises of commercial use of the ground floor, with residential use above. This is a favorable situation, as the ground floor use is less vulnerable as define in the planning practice guidance.


The stated aim of PPG is to ensure that flood risk is taken into account at all stages in the planning process to avoid inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding, and to direct development away from areas at highest risk. 


This FRA is prepared for the purposes of providing a generalised indication of the potential flood risk to the site, and to identify whether there are any flooding or surface water management issues relating to the development site that may warrant further consideration. 

Bristol is a varied city with regards to flood risk. Some of the hilly areas see very rapid lowering in flood risk moving away from water courses, however area to the west such as Avonmouth experience large areas of low lying ground in Zone 3a which can be problematic from a planning perspective.

There are numerous culvert water courses in Bristol, where rivers has been built over, and now run in tunnels under central areas. 

The flood risk assessment will be prepared on a quick turnaround and supplied to the client in a PDF format.

The use of secondary data will aid in providing this report on a quick turnaround. 

Flood Risk Consultants Bristol

Site Investigation Bristol

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Site Investigation Bristol

Acting on instruction from a property owner in Bristol. Southwest Environmental Limited are currently undertaking a Geo-environmental site investigation in Bristol.

The site is an dis-used petrol filling station, there are concrete filled tanks on site, and various buildings with above ground tanks and assicoated storage.

Site Investigation Bristol – Buried Services and Pipework were Present

Site Investigation Bristol – Site Works were completed in One Day

The site works were undertaken in December 2015, with reporting no being progressed.

A full report will be prepared to collate finding of investigation and to compare soil quality against various guide values. 

Site Investigation Bristol

Permit Application Basildon, Essex

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Permit Application Basildon, Essex 

Acting on instructions from a company wishing the recycle batteries in Essex. Southwest Environmental are to prepare a permit application for a battery recycling facility. There were many environmental constraints on site, such as a nearby SSSI.

The process involves the splitting of batteries with the segregation of casings, metal plates and electrolytes for onward transfer.

The application was prepared an submitted by SWEL in under 2 weeks, with a great deal of detail being input to the Environmental Risk assessment to describe migratory measures etc.

Example detail:

“All containers are clearly labelled prior to filling. When a particular container or series of containers are full they are transferred off site for further recycling at other licensed facilities, at which point an outgoing transfer documentation is generated and a collection of battery sourced wastes are loaded on to a vehicle for onward transfer.”

Environmental Permit Application Essex

Sunlight Daylight Assessment

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Southwest Environmental are Environmental Consultants who regularly undertake Sunlight and Daylight Assessments in London, in this case this Assessment took place in Tottenham (N17).

The original plan was for the building to have 5 stories with an extra penthouse single unit on the fitth floor. This was a problematic layout owing to there being very little over shadowing pre-development.

Southwest Environmental were able to inform our client of the maximum possible building height based on the bRE 209 reduction criteria which was around 12 meters in this instance. Th height would change dependent of the scale and distance of the building in relationship to the affected window.

After redcuing the building height to 4 stories the calculations were acceptable, and the rpeort was issued in support of the application.

This report may be used in the appeal process to prove that 4 stories does not create adverse overshadowing conditions.

Environmental Consultants London