Contact: John Priest - Ext: 7336

A. Proposed waste transfer and recycling facility, including construction of
building, New Lane, Havant (02/50472/005)

1. Summary

1.1. The Committee undertook a joint site visit with representatives of Havant Borough Council on 7 November 2002 to consider the New Lane application following a request from the Borough Council.

2. Introduction

2.1. At the New Lane site Members received presentations by the Borough Planning Officer and representatives of the applicant. After New Lane the Wallington Recycling Depot at Fareham was visited so that Members could witness an existing facility. The comments of those present are outlined in the ensuing paragraphs. A copy of the report for the visit to New Lane is attached as an appendix to this report.

3. Comments of the Borough Planning Officer

3.1. The Borough Planning Officer advised that the site is currently used for a number of activities and the proposal entailed construction of an industrial unit which would cover the majority of the site. The handling capacity of the site would be increased and similar operating hours at present (7.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. Monday to Friday and 7.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on Saturday) would apply. A large number of representations concerning the application had been received and there would be a need to assess such matters as vehicle numbers and types, pedestrian safety and the visual appearance of the proposal.

4. Comments of the Applicants

4.1. The applicants confirmed that the handling of waste has evolved over the years and that Government policy strongly advocates recycling. The aim was to enclose all activities within a building on the site thus reducing dust and noise and being more friendly to local residents. The aim was to recycle 80% of the material arriving at the site and hence up to date equipment was needed. By retaining the existing offices fronting New Road the impact of the new building on the street scene would be softened.

4.2. It was further stated that the site lies within the New Lane Industrial Estate and the only residential properties are to the west and the north west. Lorries visiting the site would not use Eastern Road or Fairfield Road across the level crossing. No increase in traffic was envisaged.

5. Comments of the Members

5.1. Members raised the following points:-

(i) Would the nature of vehicles visiting the site alter? In response it was stated that large trucks which would be used to take material away from the site were already visiting.


(ii) Would lorries queue up on the adjacent public highway? In response it was stated that there would be more space within the building for waiting vehicles.


(iii) How would the number of vehicles visiting the site be controlled? In response it was stated that the capacity of the plant would control vehicle numbers and that the fact that most of the business is from "account" customers enables an accurate estimate to be made of capacity for waste at the site.

6. Visit to the Wallington Recycling Depot

6.1. The SITA representative described the operation of the Wallington facility which entails removal for recycling of metal, wood and soil with the remaining material going to landfill sites. He drew particular attention to the "picking hut" in which paper and plastics are removed manually and the machinery which is used for crushing rubble and stone which is then taken off site. A misting system is used to dampen down dust and the planning permission allows operation 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, although no lorries are allowed to visit the site between the hours of 10.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m.

6.2. The County Planning Officer drew attention to the size of the Wallington facility; the proposed New Lane building would be about 40% of the size of the Wallington facility, although of roughly the same height. The New Lane facility would be a smaller scale operation and would not have the "picking station" or crushing facility.

7. Comments of the County Planning Officer

7.1. Havant Borough Council considered the application at the meeting of the Development Control Committee on 14 November 2002 when it resolved:

`(1) Hampshire County Council be advised that the District Planning Authority raise strong objections to application 02/50472/005 on the grounds that:

(a) the proposal is contrary to the provisions of Criteria (ii), (iv), (vi)
and (vii) of Policy 46 of the adopted HWLP and Policies GDD1 of
the HBLP, and EMP8 of the HBDWLP resulting in unacceptable
nuisance to residential amenity by reason of dust, noise, vibration
pedestrian safety and vehicle queuing on the adjacent highway;

(b) the proposed building is of excessive height and bulk which would appear out of character and be detrimental to the visual amenities of the locality; and

(c) there is inadequate room within the building to accommodate the facilities proposed and the potential traffic movements which will lead to traffic queuing outside the site.

(2) In the event that the County Council receive substantial amendments and the Regulatory Committee are minded to approve the application it is requested that consideration of the application by the Regulatory Committee be deferred to enable further consultation and adequate time for this Council to consider the changes.'

7.2. Following the site visit further details have been provided by the applicant concerning the internal organisation of the operations within the building. This includes waste processing via a trommel and impactor, stockpiling of unprocessed and processed material, skip storage, vehicle parking (prior to tipping), weighbridge and weighbridge office.

7.3. It is accepted that there is a need to provide more facilities for waste transfer and recycling in order to meet the increased recycling rates required by the Government. Notwithstanding the fact that there are a number of such facilities in Havant and South East Hampshire further capacity is still needed. The application site is in industrial/commercial use and a waste transfer facility has operated at the site for a number of years; however it is close to housing, and its operation has given rise to complaint from local residents. A reason for the application is to enclose the waste transfer and recycling activities as a response to these complaints.

7.4. The issues are in relation to the impacts that the proposed additional development would have for local residents and the locality. These impacts relate to noise and dust from the operation of the site, the impact of the lorry traffic, and the visual impact of the new building.

7.5. The existing waste transfer and recycling operations have given rise to justifiable complaint from local residents due to noise and dust. The applicant proposes enclosing the operations within a building to contain these adverse impacts. However the Environmental Health Officer has raised concerns that the proposals would not fully address the issues of noise and dust from the operation of the site. In view of the past complaints it is considered important that these issues are fully and properly addressed in any future proposals. The proposals as submitted do not provide the necessary information and detail on measures to be taken and are therefore unacceptable.

7.6. The proposal is for a very large building, the height of this building gives rise to concern at its visual impact. The buildings in the vicinity of the site are lower, and mainly of domestic scale. The proposed building is out of scale with its locality and with its location on the junction of New Lane and Eastern Road it will be very prominent. It is recognised that there will be lower level screening from the retention of existing buildings on New Lane and proposed landscape planting adjacent to Eastern Road. However these will not address the principal concern which is the detrimental visual prominence due to the building's height and bulk.

7.7. A major reason of objection from local residents concerns the lorry traffic associated with the proposal. These concerns relate to probable changes in the type of commercial traffic to include more, larger vehicles and the impact of this traffic on the amenity of local residents. There are also concerns about highway safety due to the conflict with pedestrians (in particular children walking to the primary school on the other side of the railway line) and other road users with lorries turning into and out of the site and queuing of lorries waiting to enter the site. The proposals do not provide sufficient detail and information to address these issues. In particular there is a lack of detail on the type of vehicles which would use the site and their numbers. In addition there is uncertainty about the future for the existing building products sales from the site, and thus whether there would be a continuation of this associated traffic. In view of this lack of information and detail it is considered that it has not been demonstrated that the highways impacts would be acceptable.

7.8. In conclusion, notwithstanding the need for additional waste recycling facilities, it is considered that the potential adverse impacts of the proposals are such that it is contrary to policy and therefore permission should not be granted. However it is recognised that there is an active waste transfer facility at the site and whilst this does not have express planning permission it is legitimate for it to continue. Therefore although this proposal is unacceptable, discussions should continue with the applicant to examine the possibility for a relocation to a more appropriate site. Moreover, the issue of finding sites for recycling activities should be urgently addressed in the review of the Hampshire Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

Recommendation

(i) That planning permission for the improvement of the waste transfer and recycling facility including construction of a new building at Wessex Construction and Plant Hire Co Ltd at New Lane, Havant (Application no:02/50472/005) be refused for the following reasons:

1. The proposal is contrary to Policy 7 (i) and Policy 46 (iv) of the Hampshire Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan in that it has not been demonstrated that there will be no unacceptable impact for local residents by reason of noise and dust from the operation of the proposed facility.

2. The proposal is contrary to Policy 7 (iii) and Policy 46 (vii) of the Hampshire Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan in that the proposed building would have an unacceptable visual impact on the locality.

3. The proposal is contrary to Policy 7 (ii) and Policy 46 (ii) of the Hampshire Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan in that it has not been demonstrated that the lorry traffic associated with the proposal would not have an unacceptable impact by reason of highway safety and disturbance to local residents, other road users and pedestrians.

(ii) That the Executive Member for Environment be requested to urgently consider the problem of identifying sites for recycling and resource recovery activities as part of the review of the Hampshire Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

8RR54112