Issue - meetings

Application A: Retrospective planning application to extend recycled soil and aggregate area to NAP Grab Hire Ltd.’s adjacent site permitted under P11/V0615/CM/ 11/00615/CM (MW.0049/11); and

Application B: Retrospective Section 73 application for change of use from agriculture to site for the import, storage and screening of waste soils to create topsoil, without complying with conditions 5, 10, 13 and 15 of permission P11/V0615/CM/ 11/00615/CM (MW.0049/11)

Report by the Director for Planning & Place (PN6).

This report relates to two interlinked applications. The first application  considers whether permission should be granted for a screened soil storage extension area to the waste soils operation granted under planning permission MW.0049/11. The second considers if permission should be granted to vary conditions 5, 10, 13 and 15, to regularise the current operations on site and allow for aggregate crushing, increase stockpile heights, amend the existing boundary planting and increase HGV movements, contrary to permission MW0049/11.

The application is being reported to Committee at the request of the County Councillor, due to objections raised by three parish councils and various local residents. There are concerns that the request for variation to the requested conditions due to the increased operations and therefore consequent HGV movements will impact adversely on the local highways network and impact adversely on the amenity of local residents.

The report outlines further comments received along with the recommendation of the Director for Planning and Place.

The development accords with the Development Plan as a whole and with individual policies within it, as well as with the NPPF. The proposals are to regularise the existing operations on site, for the extended site area, crushing, increased stockpile heights, reduced vegetation and increased HGV movements.

It is RECOMMENDED that subject to the applicant entering into a routeing agreement to require vehicles to be routed to and from the A34 via the A338 and the A420, to avoid the A415 the Director for Planning and Place be authorised to:

i)          APPROVE application no. MW.0134/19 subject to conditions the detailed wording of which to be determined by the Director of Planning and Place including the conditions set out in Annex 2 to the report PN6; and

ii)        APPROVE application MW.0135/19 subject to conditions the detailed wording of which to be determined by the Director of Planning and Place including the conditions set out in Annex 3 to the report PN6.

Deferred

The Committee considered a report (PN6) relating to two interlinked applications. The first considered whether permission should be granted for a screened soil storage extension area to the waste soils operation granted under planning permission MW.0049/11. The second if permission should be granted to vary conditions 5, 10, 13 and 15 in order to regularise current operations on site and allow for aggregate crushing, increase stockpile heights, amend the existing boundary planting and increase HGV movements, contrary to permission MW0049/11.  The application had been reported to Committee at the request of the County Councillor due to objections raised by three parish councils and various local residents raising concerns that the request for variation to the requested conditions due to the increased operations and therefore consequent HGV movements would impact adversely on the local highways network and amenity of local residents.

Ms Bolster presented the report and responded to questions from:

Councillor Sanders – the reference to green soil inferred that this was a contribution to more secondary aggregate provision by importing rubble from building sites and screening out anything that was reusable such as soil with  rocks sent away to be crushed.  Anything remaining would be diverted to landfill.  There was no excavation and the applicant was now seeking to crush material on site.

Councillor Roberts – annual site visits had been carried out since 2011. That had resulted in higher stock piles being observed and reported to the applicants. The last occasion had been January and the piles had been reduced. There was evidence to suggest unauthorised crushing had taken place.  The right of way would not be affected by these applications.

Councillor Johnston – Mr Periam advised that the applicants had been instructed either to seek to regularise activities on site or enforcement action would be required.  A view had to be taken which course of action was best.  If the application currently before the Committee was refused then enforcement action would need to be taken.

David Warr (chair of the Kingston Bagpuize and Southmoor planning sub-committee). Reinforcing his council’s view about this retrospective application  and the series of breaches of conditions over the past few years with regard to the 2011 permission they had serious questions about what had changed since then to persuade the County Council to now recommend approval when in terms of policy and planning law nothing had changed except for an increased target imposed on the County to deal with waste recycling.  In the time since the first approval, Kingston Bagpuize and Southmoor had grown from a settlement of some 800 dwellings to what it is today – 2,175 with attendant increases in traffic volumes and environmental impacts upon an expanding community.  Within the next few years that would increase by a further 700 dwellings if the Lioncourt development were to proceed.  The Parish Council was not convinced by the reporting of traffic flows in and out of the site as it seemed that the County Council had relied on the applicant’s figures,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26