Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Felix Bloomfield and Councillor Ted Fenton was substituting.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th and 18^th July 2023 (PN3) and to receive information arising from them.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th and 18^th July 2023 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair, subject to the following amendments:

·       Add ‘Councillor’ in front of Oxford City Councillor and District Councillor names.

·       Amend Oxfordshire City Council to Oxford City Council.

·       Amend minutes to read: There was not enough information provided to make a decision and no opportunity of a fly-through of the proposal. Councillor Middleton requested a fly-through and this was presented after the lunch break, after concerns were raised by Members.

·       Page 9 – Paragraph starting “Councillor Constance …..” – Amend to read Councillor Constance understood that it was not funded by council tax.

·       Page 18 – to check what Owen Jenkins said about safeguarded land in South Oxfordshire District Council. This was checked and not accepted.

Councillors Bennett, Constance, Edosomwan, Fadlalla, Roberts, Saul and Webber voted to approve the minutes.

The FCC Environment UK Limited representative, Mr Mark Cheetham, had requested to address the Committee on Item 5.

Application to modify or discharge Section 106 Planning Obligations to remove the existing waste catchment area and amend permissive path at Sutton Courtenay Landfill Site.

Report by Director of Planning, Environment and Climate Change

It is RECOMMENDED that

i)               Oxfordshire County Council enter into a deed of variation to amend the existing Section 106 legal agreement with regards to removing the hinterland restriction and amending the date for the provision of a permissive path.

ii)             The Director of Planning, Environment and Climate Change is authorised to enter into negotiations with the applicant and any other parties to the legal agreement with regard to making the variations set out in this report.

The Principal Planning Officer, Mary Hudson, introduced the report and provided a presentation to the Committee. A correction to Table 1 on page 27 was pointed out.

The application was considered by the Planning and Regulation committee on 5^th June 2023 and deferred pending further information. The requested information had been provided and considered and therefore, the application was being brought back to the Committee for decision. The application was a Section 106A application to amend a legal agreement associated with an existing planning permission. The applicant proposed to remove the hinterland obligation so that there would be no geographical limitation on the source of waste. They also proposed a change to the timescale for delivery of a permissive path.

There were no changes to the recommendation of the June report. It was recommended that the application be approved, and a deed of variation was entered into, to amend the legal agreement.

The recommendation was that

i)               Oxfordshire County Council enter into a deed of variation to amend the existing Section 106 legal agreement with regards to removing the hinterland restriction and amending the date for the provision of a permissive path.

ii)              The Director of Planning, Environment and Climate Change is authorised to enter into negotiations with the applicant and any other parties to the legal agreement with regard to making the variations set out in this report.

The following points of clarification were provided in response to questions and matters raised by the Committee:

·       The only options were to retain or scrap the boundary, it could not be expanded.

·       The waste was coming from places that had not been expected, however there had been no information that the approved route was being breached.

·       The legal agreement had been scoped very carefully and it ensured that the waste from other places was not included.

·       If the forecasts were met, the landfill would be filled by 2030.

The FCC Environment UK Limited representative, Mr Mark Cheetham, Regional Manager for South of England informed the Committee that the proposed change to the footpath was because of the timing of the delivery, there were no proposed changes to the alignment on the north or south of the path. The reason for the delay was because of the continued operation of Hanson and Forterra on the site and it would not be safe to have public access there. The current footpath diversion would remain in place so could be safely used in the interim. The application was to extend the timeline to 31^st December 2030 to coincide with the current operation of the landfill.

The hinterland application relates to a non-hazardous landfill site permitted by the Environment Agency, which played a strategic role in providing a disposal point for predominantly construction and demolition for commercial and industrial waste. The adopted Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Core Strategy did not support the imposition of catchment areas on waste management facilities, including landfills. The Strategy acknowledged Oxfordshire imported substantial quantities of waste from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/23