Agenda item

A report was presented on an application for proposed reprofiling of former landfill site using imported inert material including new access at the former Parbold Hill Quarry, Parbold Hill, Parbold.

The report included the views of West Lancashire Borough Council, Hilldale Parish Council, Dalton Parish Council, Parbold Parish Council, Wrightington Parish Council, Newburgh Parish Council, Lathom South Parish Council, Jacobs UK (Landscape Advice), LCC Highways Development Control, Natural England, LCC Ecology Service, the Environment Agency, the Canal and River Trust, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, and details of 967 representations received objecting to the application. A representation had also been received from agents for the Miller and Carter restaurant which is opposite the application site and the 'Stop Parbold Hill Landfill Group'.  Rosie Cooper MP for West Lancashire and County Councillor Greenall had also raised concerns about the application.

The Development Management Officer presented a PowerPoint presentation showing an aerial view of the site, and the nearest residential properties. The Committee was also shown an illustration of the proposed contours, landfill design and proposed access arrangements and photographs of the site from various aspects. The officer also referred to a video showing the site and surrounding area which had been circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting.

The Officer reported orally that since the report had been finalised, a further 134 representations had been received objecting to the application, with two in support of the application.  (Details set out in the Update Sheet at Item 4 of the agenda).

The Committee was reminded that as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, members of the public who had formally requested to speak at the committee meeting and who met the criteria, had been invited to give their views in the form of a written statement to be read out in full by officers at the meeting.

The officers therefore took it in turn to read out 15 written statements on behalf of local residents, parish and borough councils and the local MP. (Statements set out at Annex A to the Update Sheet).

A number of the statements called on the committee to visit the site prior to considering the application.

In response, officers advised that they were reluctant to arrange such given the significant rise in covid-19 cases in the area, the age profile of the committee and the current restrictions in Lancashire where government advice is to avoid the mixing of households, even in outdoor areas.

Nevertheless, during debate, several members expressed a wish to visit the site. It was therefore suggested that if the Committee was so minded, and provided that everyone wore PPE, the site visit could take place on an individual, socially distanced basis with each Member being allocated a 30 minute time-slot.

Following further debate it was Moved and Seconded:

"That the Committee defer consideration of the application pending a site visit".

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

Resolved:  That the Committee defer consideration of the application pending a site visit.