Range of actions from Environment Agency finally gives hope for Hoad’s Wood

Timetable divides work into five main phases and a ‘demobilisation phase’

Perhaps not as quickly as many would like, but positive things are happening at Hoad’s Wood, the site blighted by some 30,000 tonnes of illegally dumped landfill.

On Friday, November 29, the Environment Agency won a Restriction Order extension from Folkestone Magistrates Court for the part of the wood that had been targeted. The order forbids anyone from entering that part without written permission from the EA – anyone who defies it could be prosecuted.

With approval from Natural England (Hoad’s Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest), the EA commissioned a topographic survey of the waste, access track and field opposite the entrance gate for December. This allowed the agency to gain the information necessary to secure the consents and licences needed to operate and remove the waste legally.

The survey involved the EA’s contractor Acumen taking 42 waste samples from 14 trial pits down to a depth of four metres. Preliminary results included the detection of hazardous waste in seven of the 42 samples – tis was due to elevated levels of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH). The EA said this was not unexpected and Acumen could continue to plan for the waste removal as per its proposals.

Asbestos was found in trace amounts in two locations but below the thresholds for hazardous-waste classification.

The EA is confident that the waste should be able to be removed to a non-hazardous permitted landfill.

Ecological and arboricultural surveys have been carried out that should allow an assessment of which trees might have to be removed during the waste-removal and which legally protected species are present.

Water-quality sampling from streams around the site has continued – no impact had been noted on River Beult, which is fed by them.

A monitoring camera has been installed and will stay in place for two years.

A spokesman for the Rescue Hoads Wood campaign said: “Despite saying the waste was non-hazardous, [the EA has] found hazardous waste as we suspected would be the case. The good news is that it won’t have a meaningful impact on clearance.

“[The EA has] installed a monitoring camera on the site for security for two years. We should ensure that this isn’t the full extent of future security measures.”

The EA has produced a timetable that divides the work into five main phases and “a demobilisation phase”. It suggests that meaningful site activity is unlikely to start until April, with clearance commencing in May assuming there are no delays.

• To learn more about the Hoad’s Wood situation, click here