The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
2.13 Connétable A.S. Crowcroft of St. Helier of the Minister for Transport and Technical Services regarding the transportation of sewage sludge from Bellozanne to La Collette:
Would the Minister state the dates and times this year when sewage sludge has been transported from Bellozanne to La Collette and indicate the total amount of sludge, if any, that is currently stored at La Collette?
Deputy G.W.J. de Faye (The Minister for Transport and Technical Services):
I am getting a little worried about the Connétable of St. Helier, who is increasingly beginning to display the heart-warming traits of a Mafia godfather. The only other comparable example I can think of, of someone taking this level of interest in the transportation of waste, is in the fictional drama series "The Sopranos." But to give the Constable the detail he clearly seeks: between 24th January and 22nd March 2006, 449 tonnes of dewatered sludge cake was transported from Bellozanne to La Collette
and mixed in a one-to-one ratio with low quality soil. In March 2006, 37 tonnes of
mixed soil and sludge were sent from La Collette to be used on amenity land, and from March to May 2006, 419 tonnes of mixed material was used to create field bags and hedgerows. The remaining sludge-soil mix is still on the La Collette site and contains approximately 221 tonnes of sludge, which will be used to cap the ash pits.
2.13.1 The Connétable of St. Helier :
Would the Minister not agree that his answer - for which I thank him, once he got
down to it - is at variance with the answer given by his Assistant Minister to the
House the meeting before last, and he has not supplied me with the detailed
information which he thinks I am rather curious in requiring, which is the times of these said transports. The reason I ask this is because there are those who think that this activity is being conducted under cover of darkness. Now, that may of course be mere alarmism, but it would have been nice to have known that these activities were conducted in normal working hours.
Deputy G.W.J. de Faye:
Clearly my allusion to "The Sopranos" was not entirely wide of the mark [Laughter] because the Connétable is indeed dealing in the realms of fantasy here. I have had rumours put to me about a mysterious blue van seen circulating the La Collette reclamation site at night, apparently squirting slurry covertly. This, frankly, is in the realms of fantasy land, and naturally enough there is no photographic evidence, I suppose because all these activities are conducted at night, none of which are anything to do with the department, if in fact these activities ever took place at all. I regret that I do not have the precise timings, and I would urge the Connétable that it is not really a matter that he should waste his valuable time on delving precisely into. Lorries pass to and from La Collette and Bellozanne on many occasions of the week, at many times of day. I can assure Members that because of the way our sewage sludge cake is treated, it really does not constitute a major odour issue.