Agenda item

The Committee considered a County Matter planning application for the retrospective use of the land for external storage purposes ancillary to the existing waste transfer station at Lydstep, Cleeve Road, Middle Littleton, Evesham, Worcestershire.

The report set out the background of the proposal, the proposal itself, the relevant planning policy and details of the site, consultations and representations.

The report set out the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy's comments in relation to the waste hierarchy, location of the development, the local economy, landscape character and appearance of the local area, residential amenities (including noise and dust emissions), ecology and biodiversity, the water environment, traffic and highways safety.   

The Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy concluded that the proposed development was ancillary to an existing adjacent waste transfer station operation. Waste materials were recovered which drives waste management up the waste hierarchy and contributed to the delivery of sustainable development. The ancillary use of this site adjacent to the existing Waste Transfer Station was considered to be reasonable for the functionality of the existing waste transfer station business.

On balance, the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy did not consider that the loss of the enclosed agricultural land as a result of this land being used for ancillary purposes in association with the existing waste transfer station business for storage use would have any adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area, subject to conditions limiting the height of any stockpiling of materials and skips and retaining and maintaining boundary hedgerows. This was in accordance with Policy WCS12 of the Worcestershire Waste Core Strategy and Policy SWDP 25 of the Draft South Worcestershire Development Plan.

Having taken into the account the concerns raised from local residents and in view of the comments received by Worcestershire Regulatory Services and the Environment Agency, the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy was satisfied that the proposal would not have any adverse impact on the amenities of the neighbouring residential properties in accordance with Policy WCS14 of the Worcestershire Waste Core Strategy and Policy 31 of the Draft South Worcestershire Development Plan.

In view of the above, the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy was satisfied that the proposal would not have an adverse impact on ecology and biodiversity in accordance with Policy WCS 9 of the Worcestershire Waste Core Strategy and Policy SWDP 22 of the Draft South Worcestershire Development Plan.

In accordance with the Environment Agency's advice, all waste storage areas should be located on impermeable hardstanding with sealed drainage and this was something that the Head of Strategic and Economy considered would be appropriate to control through the imposition of a condition. Subject to this condition, the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy was satisfied that the proposal would not have any adverse impact on the water environment in accordance with Policy SWDP 28 and Policy SWDP 29 of the Draft South Worcestershire Development Plan.

The Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy was satisfied that the proposed development was acceptable on highways grounds in accordance with Policy WCS 8 of the Waste Core Strategy for Worcestershire.

The Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy was satisfied that the proposal would not have an adverse impact on ecology and biodiversity; the water environment and on highways. Taking into account the provisions of the Development Plan and in particular Policies WCS 1; WCS 3; WCS 8; WCS 9; WCS 11; WCS 12; WCS 14 and WCS 15 of the Adopted Worcestershire Waste Core Strategy and Policies SWDP 1; SWDP 2; SWDP 4; SWDP 5; SWDP 7; SWDP 21; SWDP 22; SWDP 25; SWDP 28; SWDP 29; SWDP 31 and SWDP 33 of the Adopted South Worcestershire development Plan, it was considered the proposal would not cause demonstrable harm to the interests intended to be protected by these policies or highway safety.

The representative of the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy commented that proposed condition a) needed to be amended to refer to the Layout Plan being received by the County Planning Authority on 14 March 2016 rather than 27 August 2015.

In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:

·         Concern was expressed about the restoration of the site should operations on the site cease. It was agreed that an additional condition be added to the permission relating to the restoration of the site, the wording of which to be agreed with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

·         Had any testing been undertaken for soil contamination bearing in mind vehicles were stored on the site with the potential leakage of hydraulic fluid? The representative of the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy commented that the EA were responsible for pollution control on the site and had not raised concerns about contamination of soil on site and therefore testing had not been undertaken

·         Was there a holding tank for filtering and removal of the contaminated water from the site? The representative of the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy stated that there was an interceptor at the waste transfer station which dealt with water from the site

·         Had any provision been made to address the problem of the noise from the alarms of reversing vehicles? The representative of the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy indicated that noise pollution had not been raised as a concern by Worcestershire Regulatory Service therefore it was not considered necessary to recommend a relevant condition.

RESOLVED that subject to an additional condition relating to the restoration of the site, the wording of which to be agreed with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee, planning permission be granted for the retrospective use of the land for external storage purposes ancillary to the existing waste transfer station at Lydstep, Cleeve Road, Middle Littleton, Evesham, Worcestershire, subject to the following conditions:

a)    The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the details shown on submitted drawings, titled, Proposed external storage ancillary to waste transfer station [part retrospective] - Location Plan, received by the County Planning Authority on 27 August 2015 and Proposed external storage ancillary to waste transfer station [part retrospective] - Layout Plan, received by the County Planning Authority on 14 March 2016;

b)    All existing unroadworthy vehicles shall be removed from the site within 3 months of the date of this permission. Thereafter, no unroadworthy vehicles shall be stored within the site;

c)    The maximum height of the top soils storage area shall not exceed 5 metres and a height bar shall be maintained on site for the duration of the operations to maintain the 5 metre height restriction;

d)    The maximum height of the skips storage area shall not exceed 4 metres and a height bar shall be maintained on site for the duration of the operations to maintain the 4 metre height restriction;

e)    Vehicle movements on the site shall only take place between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays or Public Holidays;

f)     The hedgerow along the southern boundary of the site shall be retained and maintained for the duration of operations on the site;

g)    Details of impermeable hardstandings and sealed drainage areas shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the County Planning Authority. The approved hardstanding areas shall be constructed and used for the storage of waste materials for the duration of waste management operations on the site; and

h)    No waste processing operations shall be carried out within this site other than the storage of waste materials on impermeable hardstandings with sealed drainage.