Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor D Howarth.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

County Councillor N Penney declared a non pecuniary interest in Items 6, 7 & 8 of the agenda as the Chair of the Board of Lancashire County Developments Limited who had been approached by the applicant for a business loan.

The committee are asked to agree that the Minutes of the last meeting held on the 25 February 2015 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 25 February 2015 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

A report was presented on an application for the change of use to inert waste transfer and storage, construction of concrete track and loop for vehicles and plant manoeuvring, site office cabin, welfare cabin and weighbridge on land west of Tomlinson Road, Tomlinson Road Industrial Estate, Leyland.

The report included the views of South Ribble Borough Council, the County Council's Developer Support (Highways), the County Ecology Service, the Environment Agency and details of 5 letters of representation received. 

Jonathan Haine, Development Management Officer, presented a PowerPoint presentation showing an aerial view of the site and the nearest residential properties. The committee was also shown a site layout plan and photographs of the site from various aspects.

Following debate during which concerns were raised at the proposed hours of working and the potential for the stockpiling of materials, it was proposed that Condition 3 with regard to the hours of working be amended as follows:

3.  No importation of waste, management of waste materials or export of waste or recycled materials shall take place outside the hours of:

08.00 to 17.30 hours, Mondays to Fridays (except Public Holidays)

  08.00 to 12.00 hours on Saturdays

No importation of waste, management of waste materials or export of waste or recycled materials shall take place at any time on Sundays or Public Holidays.

The use of the screening plant shall only take place between the hours of 09.00 - 17.30 hours Mondays to Fridays and shall not be used at any time on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.

The reason to remain the same.

It was also proposed that an additional condition be imposed to prevent the stockpiling of materials above a height of 4 metres. The condition is included in the minutes for completeness as follows:

'No stockpile of waste or recycled material shall exceed a height of 4 metres.

Reason: In the interests of the visual amenities of the area and the minimisation of dust emissions and to conform with Policy DM2 of the Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan and policy QD1 of the South Ribble Borough Local Plan'.

Resolved: That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions set out in the report to the committee, with an amendment to Condition 3 and the inclusion of an additional condition as set out above.

A report was presented on an application for the variation of condition 2 of planning permission 02/08/1116 to allow the importation of post IVC compost from commercial waste management facilities at Iron House Farm, Lancaster Road, Out Rawcliffe, Preston.

The report included the views of the Environment Agency and Lancashire County Council's Ecology Service.

Jonathan Haine, Development Management Officer, presented a PowerPoint presentation showing an aerial view of the site and the nearest residential properties. The committee was also shown a site layout plan and photographs of the site.

It was reported orally that the applicant had written requesting that the application be deferred to allow him to address the issues raised by the Environment Agency.

The Committee was advised that the waste types proposed to be imported to the site could have potentially odorous characteristics and their manner of management in open windrows could make control of such impacts difficult. Given the proximity and direction to the nearest property, it was considered that the proposal raised a fundamental land use planning objection and that it conflicted with policy DM2 of the Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

Resolved: That planning permission be refused for the following reason:

The development would give rise to bio aerosol and odour emissions and such impacts on the nearest residential property could not be mitigated to acceptable levels. The development would therefore have unacceptable impacts on residential amenity contrary to policy DM2 of the Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan and policy SP14 of the Wyre Borough Local Plan.

A report was presented on a retrospective planning application for the variation of conditions 3 and 9 of planning permission 02/11/0876 to extend the hours of waste transfer and recycling operations and the delivery and removal of waste and processed materials, and to allow the doors of the waste transfer building to be open while plant is operating but only for the ingress and egress of vehicles requiring access to the building at Lancashire Waste Recycling Limited, Unit 8, Burn Hall Industrial Estate, Venture Road, Thornton.

The report included the views of Wyre Borough Council, Fleetwood Town Council, the County Council's Developer Support (Highways), the Environment Agency, the County Council's Specialist Adviser (Ecology), and details of 97 letters of representation received.

It was reported orally that a further letter had been received subsequent to the publication of the committee reports from NLP Ltd, planning consultants acting on behalf Bourne Leisure Ltd, owners of the Cala Gran Caravan Park. NLP Ltd who raised four issues:-

·  NLP Ltd considered that the full scope of Bourne Leisure's objection had not been reported to members in the Committee report.

·  Application LCC 2014/0145 – proposed condition 7 – the wording of this condition caused NLP significant concern as they felt it would result in a development that was significantly different from that which the applicant applied for and on which consultation had been undertaken. NLP consider that the wording of the proposed condition should be subject to consultation.

·  Application LCC/2014/0146 Conditions 3 and 4. NLP consider that these are inadequate as they do not impose a noise level or a restriction in the event that noise levels cannot be reduced or a timescale to require reduction.

·  Ownership certificates – NLP consider that there is an error in the ownership certification for applications 0144 and 0146 that results in the applications being invalid. The applicant is Mr Paul Mellor yet the land is owned by Lancashire Waste Recycling yet no notice has been served on that company.

NLP therefore considered that applications 0144 and 145 should not be determined on the 8^th April as the applications were invalid and that application 0146 should similarly not be determined as the conditions were inadequate and they wished the opportunity to comment on revised conditions.

The Committee was advised that the objections raised by NLP on behalf of Bourne Leisure had been lengthy and had therefore been summarised in the report. However, it was considered that the main points of the objection had been covered.

In relation to condition 7, the use of the land would remain as a waste transfer station which was the current permitted use. The wording of condition 7 would not change the character of that use sufficiently to give rise to a development that was fundamentally different to require a further planning application.

Conditions 3 and 4 – The Borough Council Environmental Health Officer considered that the noise levels from the air extraction system could be reduced to acceptable levels and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

See the resolution above in relation to planning application LCC/2014/0144.

The Committee was asked to consider whether it wished to defer application LCC/2014/0146 so that the application could be considered at the same time as LCC/2014/0144 and LCC/2014/0145.

It was therefore Moved and Seconded:

"That consideration of application LCC/2014/0146 be deferred"

On being put to the vote the Motion was Carried. It was therefore:

Resolved: That consideration of application LCC/2014/0146 be deferred.

It was reported that since the last meeting of the Development Control Committee on the 25 February, 2015 eleven planning applications had been granted planning permission by the Executive Director for Environment in accordance with the County Council's Scheme of Delegation.

Resolved: That the report be noted.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There were no items of urgent business.

The next meeting of the Development Control Committee will be held on Wednesday 20 May 2015 at 10.00 a.m. in Cabinet Room B - the Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

Resolved: That the next meeting of the Committee be held on Wednesday 20 May 2015.