Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

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.

No pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests were disclosed.

The committee are asked to agree that the Minutes of the last meeting held on 20 July 2022 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Resolved: That the minutes of the last meeting held on Wednesday 20^th July 2022 be confirmed and signed by the Chair, subject to the addition of 'S' Rigby.

The Update Sheet will be considered as part of each related agenda report.

The Update Sheet was circulated prior to the meeting (copy attached).

A report was presented on an application for the demolition of the existing building, followed by erection of building and ancillary structures to house a high temperature treatment facility for the management of medical waste at land at Tower House, Simonswood Industrial Park, Stopgate Lane, Simonswood. The application was accompanied by an Environmental Statement.

It was noted that there was an error in the report: CPRE stood for Campaign to Protect Rural England and not Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering.

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The report included the views of West Lancashire Borough Council and Environmental Health, Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Environmental Health, St Helens Borough Council, Melling Parish Council, Simonswood Parish Council, Bickerstaff Parish Council, Rainford Parish Council, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Health and Safety Executive, LCC Highways Development Control, the Ecology Service, United Utilities, the Lead Local Flood Authority and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

1384 representations objecting to the proposal had been received, the details of which were provided in the report. It was reported that a petition had been received signed by 1770 residents who objected to the application, due to early morning and late-night noise, traffic issues and environmental impact on local residents. In addition, a second petition organised by Knowsley Labour Party had also been received containing 4909 signatures objecting to the application. Two representations supporting the proposal had been received.

Committee's attention was drawn to the Update Sheet which included details of further consultation responses and a further 48 representations which had been received since the report had been published. In addition, amendments to Conditions 3, 6 and 7 had been proposed together with an additional Condition; details of these were contained within the Update Sheet.

Although the proposal was relatively small scale on an existing industrial estate, it was noted that it would have the potential to generate several environmental impacts including highways/traffic, visual/landscape, air quality/health concerns, noise and ecology. The local environmental impacts of the proposal were discussed in detail in the report.

The Development Management Officer presented a Powerpoint presentation showing a site location plan, aerial view and diagram of the application site including the nearest residential properties, site access, location of aggregate processing/washing plant, waste transfer/processing uses, proposed building, water tanks, exhaust stack and combustion plant. Also presented were elevations diagrams and photographs of the view of the site from the internal access road, view of the industrial estate access/Stopgate Lane, view of the application site from Stopgate Lane and the view from the nearest properties on Sidings Lane.

Paula Carlyle, a local resident, addressed the Committee and made the following points:

The application does not comply with the West Lancashire local policy EN2 'preserving West Lancashire's natural environment'. Residents were told by the applicant at the consultation meeting that any particulates emitted from the chimney stack would be minimal with little impact on planetary and human health. The Atkins report recommended that the stack double in size, giving a lack of confidence in the applicants  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

It was reported that, since the last meeting of the Development Control Committee on 8^th June 2022, fourteen planning applications had been granted planning permission by the Head of Planning and 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, 19 October 2022 at 10.30 am in Committee Room B - the Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

Resolved: That the next meeting of the Committee be held on Wednesday 19^th October 2022, at 10.30am in Committee Room B – The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.