Agenda item

Preston City: Application number LCC/2018/0048
Amendment of condition 3 of planning permission LCC/2017/0017 to extend the hours of operation of the fragmentising plant to between 07.00 - 20.00 Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays) with no change to the working hours on Saturdays. Recycling Lives, Longridge Road, Preston

Minutes:

A report was presented on an application for an amendment to condition 3 of planning permission LCC/2017/0017 to extend the hours of operation of the fragmentising plant to between 07.00 – 20.00 Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays) with no change to the working hours on Saturdays at Recycling Lives, Longridge Road, Preston.

 

The report included the views of Preston City Council, Grimsargh Parish Council, the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council's Highways Development Control and details of two letters of representation received.

 

The Development Management Officer presented a PowerPoint presentation which included an aerial photograph of the site and the nearest residential properties. The committee was also shown photographs of the site, the fragmentiser and the access road.

 

The agent for the applicant, Mr Alexis De Pol, addressed the committee and spoke in support of the application. He advised that the additional working hours of the fragmentiser would contribute towards continued delivery of economic, social and environmental benefits arising from their overall recycling operations both locally and nationally such as the creation of additional jobs. The company provided employment opportunities for vulnerable people with many of the employees being from marginalised or disadvantaged backgrounds. Mr De Pol also advised that the applicant had undertaken the required noise survey that specified a method for the rating of industrial noise affecting mixed residential and industrial areas. It was therefore suggested that the concerns raised by the Environment Agency as to the acceptability of the amended noise assessment, were unfounded. The Committee was urged to approve the application.

 

Officers responded to concerns raised by the Members with regard to the noise and dust leading to amenity impacts on residents.  It was explained that the main issue associated with the application was the potential impact upon nearby residents by noise from the use of the fragmentiser over the extended working hours. The officer referred to the report and in particular, the views of the Environment Agency who had expressed a number of concerns as to the adequacy of the submitted noise assessment.

 

Following further discussion, it was:

 

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

 

The proposed extension to the hours of operation would allow the fragmentiser plant to be operated for an additional 3 hours per day, Mondays to Fridays, between 0700 to 0730 hours, and 1730 to 2000 hours. It is considered that the applicant's noise assessment has not satisfactorily demonstrated that there would be no unacceptable adverse impact by reason of noise from the proposed extended hours of operation of the fragmentiser on the amenity of residents of the nearby The Hills Estate. The risk of an unacceptable adverse impact on the public is contrary to Policy CS9 of the Joint Lancashire Minerals and Waste Development Framework Core Strategy DPD, Policy DM2 of the Joint Lancashire Minerals and Waste Development Framework Core Strategy DPD, the Joint Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan – Site Allocation and Development Management Policies – Part One, and Policies AD1 (a) of the Preston Local Plan 2012 - 2026.

 

 

 

Supporting documents: