Category Archives: Small Dole

Horton Clay Pit SSSI

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Horton Clay Pit SSSI
A Viridor residents newsletter [PDF] tells us that:

Viridor intends to submit a planning application in June 2014, accompanied by an Environmental Statement, relating to the infill and restoration of the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) area at the Horton Clay Pit.

In 1991, the former clay pit was granted planning consent for restoration using landfilling. A condition of this consent was that the SSSI would be retained and as a result the landfill was designed around it. The SSSI now forms one side of a shallow excavation with the landfill lying on the other side.

A recent technical stability report found that long-term remediation of the SSSI was not feasible. The only practical and sustainable solution is burial by
inert infill and restoration of the whole SSSI void to prevent any further erosion. Natural England has agreed in principle, subject to the Gault clay being protected by a marker layer.

The scheme will establish additional grassland married into the existing adjacent restoration profile. It will also provide further woodland planting and establishment to enable habitat linkages across the restored landfill.

If you want to comment, the deadline is 3rd June. More information is available in the newsletter quoted above, the Viridor website, and at the Shoreham Herald.

Small Dole Auxiliary Unit Patrol

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Old Erringham by Simon Carey

Old Erringham (Simon Carey) / CC BY-SA 2.0

Auxiliary Units were a secret resistance network of highly trained volunteers prepared to be Britain’s last ditch line of defence during World War Two. They operated in a network of cells from hidden underground bases around the UK. [CART]

There’s now a page of information about the Small Dole Auxiliary Unit Patrol on the CART website. The Sussex Regional Headquarters was at Tottington Manor. Volunteers in Sussex, as elsewhere, were mostly local farmers. If you have any information about the Small Dole unit, or its members, please contact CART. If you have never previously heard of the ‘Auxiliary Units’ but think they sound interesting, then the book to read is Stewart Angell’s (1996) The Secret Sussex Resistance, 1940-1944, Midhurst: Middleton Press (readily available).

Under-age moto-cross

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Golding Barn Raceway in Small Dole
The Shoreham Herald reports:

Dan Beamish, who co-runs Golding Barn Raceway in Small Dole, visited key stage one children at Upper Beeding Primary School to talk about the extreme sport .. He took along a moto-cross bike, which is used in races, together with the equipment worn while racing. ..

Golding Barn Raceway is a professional moto-cross practice and race facility in Henfield Road. It was built by Danny and Steve Beamish, an ex professional moto-cross racer.

Mayfield runoff

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The LAMBS flood gallery
The LAMBS website has another interesting article, this one on the implications of the Mayfield development for the regional hydrology:

“Every time it rains there would be massive floods which could wipe out Shoreham,” says Frank Preston who worked on the river for 30 years, as a Flood Defence Agent for Southern Water Authority. “The extra impervious run-off from houses and roads, that sort of thing, would just overpower the river.”
..
John Donaldson, former Operations Manager for the Environment Agency, with 35 years of experience in the water industry, says he was “horrified” when he heard of the plan. “The impact of the drainage system and surface water run-off will be a nightmare,” he says. “We can hardly manage the run-off that we’ve got at the present time. There’d be even greater flooding without doubt – to land, to property, to road systems and transport – everything. The upland catchment already has enough water in the meadows and fields – we cannot take any more water.”
..
[Peter Haworth Booth:] “The implications of Mayfield are enormous. I think a lot of houses just won’t be habitable. I don’t know what the quantities of water are but the speed of the run-off is going to cause mega problems from here down to Bramber.”

Read the rest at the LAMBS website.

Residents to solve monkey puzzle

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Protest march at Shamrock Farms
The West Sussex County Times reports:

Councillors were urged by planning officers at this week’s planning committee meeting to make a decision on the future of an old ‘monkey farm’ .. the two commercial buildings located on a brown field site in Small Dole have been proposed to be demolished and replaced by two detached houses with garages .. the application has been refused on previous occasions, reducing the number of dwellings from four, to three, and finally to two .. the industrial buildings were marketed for commercial use over a specified period, but did not generate any interest. .. It was finally agreed that the application be refused and the decision to be placed in the hands of residents as part of the local parish council’s Neighbourhood Plan.

Tipper closures to follow tip closure

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Golding Barn inert landfill site at Small Dole
The Argus is reporting:

Small Sussex businesses could be bankrupt by Christmas after the closure of a landfill site. The inert landfill site at Golding Barn, Small Dole, near Henfield, was shut down after its operator breached its waste limit by 50%. .. Fiona Cave, of MRL Grab & Tip Limited, said: “As of yesterday, my business is worthless. There are no other inert landfill sites in the area — the next one being near Chichester and since my lorries only do six miles to the gallon, and it would take me hours to do a return trip from my base in Burgess Hill, my charge to my customer of £170 per load plus VAT would not even cover the cost of running the lorry.”

Survey work on trench begins

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Surveying the route of the trench
The West Sussex County Times is reporting that work on surveying the trench is about to begin:

Chris Tomlinson, E.ON Development Manager for the project, said: “Over the next few weeks we’ll be carrying out surveys at various sites along the cable route to help us understand the makeup of the soil and the impact construction may have on the ground. We’ll also be working to identify areas of archaeological importance by digging trenches that will enable us to plan the most appropriate monitoring and protection during construction. Weather permitting, the work will begin at the end of October and is expected to take six to eight weeks.”

Anyone [who] has any questions about the survey works should email rampion@eon.com or call 01273 603 721.

Small Dole bakery loses £20k

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Truffles phished at NatWest
The Shoreham Herald is reporting:

Small Dole firm Truffles bakery, which has branches in Shoreham and Steyning, lost £19,600 when its NatWest account was raided in a phishing scam. .. Criminals got into the company’s computer using a virus planted in a fake email from HMRC. When the email was opened, the fraudsters could view data being input on the computer, including the firm’s online-banking password and pin code. .. General manager Gabby Taylor made an online payment on Friday, September 20, and found on the Monday morning the money had gone. .. She said: “We are gutted. We employ nearly 200 local people who are paid weekly and this has taken a huge amount out of our cash flow”.