Contact: Katie Snell, ext 5938 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 Planning permission is sought to import, store and sell primary and recycled aggregates and soils at the Holbury Waste Transfer Station, Park Lane, Holbury. The New Forest National Park Authority has raised concerns about the possibility of traffic being generated crossing the National Park. The Parish Council has voiced concerns over the impacts on local amenities. The concerns over drainage raised by the Environment Agency can be met by condition. A condition can also alleviate the traffic concerns voiced by the Highways Authority. However, it is considered that the application should be refused on the grounds of the detrimental effect that increased commercial traffic will have on the New Forest National Park.

2. Site

2.1 The site, as shown on the attached plan, comprises an area of 0.02 hectares within an existing industrial estate adjacent to a car breakers yard. The industrial site falls within the New Forest National Park. There is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) to the south-east and a housing estate to the north-east. Access is provided by an estate road off Park Lane, which feeds off Lime Kiln Lane. Holbury Industrial Estate, to the north of the site, also shares this access. The site itself has substantial screening in the form of a thick ivy bank with individual oak trees.

2.2 The site currently comprises a skip hire business and a waste transfer facility which has been operating since 1983. Currently an average of 30 vehicles per day use the site.

2.3 Planning permission (Application No. 77401) was granted in 2003, to erect a building to enclose the existing sorting and transfer operations at the site.

2.4 The waste transfer facility currently acts as a disposal point for local builders, contractors and businesses to transfer their unwanted construction, demolition, commercial and industrial wastes. Typically waste is brought in on skips, vans and lorries. At present approximately three lorries a day remove waste from Holbury Waste Transfer Station and deliver to Manor Farm, Pennington for aggregate recycling.

3. Proposal

3.1 It is proposed to import, store and sell primary and recycled aggregates and soils at the facility, while at the same time maintaining current functions.

3.2 It is expected that two Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) will deliver a total of approximately 50 tonnes of material per day to the site. This will be either primary aggregate from the Caird Avenue Depot at New Milton, or secondary aggregates from Manor Farm, Pennington or a combination of the two. The HGVs will then be used to make the return journey to Manor Farm, Pennington, loaded with waste from the skip/waste transfer operations as current practice. Movements will be increased by a total of 15 vehicles but it is anticipated that none of these vehicles will be HGVs.

3.3 The additional eight bays will contain a variety of aggregate, building and landscape materials. The bays will be formed with sleeper walls at a height of 3.7 metres with dimensions of 4 metres by 5 metres. Each bay will have a concrete surface and an approximate 50 tonne capacity. It is proposed that this operation will adopt the same working hours as the existing facility.

4. Development Plan

4.1 Hampshire County Structure Plan 1996-2011 (Review) (Adopted 27 March 2000) Policies MW1 (general policy for waste hierarchy), MW2 (balance of need and impact) and MW3, dealing with minerals and waste development which is likely to cause material harm to specific designated areas, including the New Forest, apply.

4.2 Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan (Adopted 17 December 1998) Policy 8 only allows development in the New Forest Heritage Area if there is an overriding need for the development to take place in the public interest. Policy 46 concerns proposals for waste recycling and transfer development.

5. Consultations

5.1 New Forest District Council has no comment.

5.2 Environmental Health Officer at New Forest raises no objection with a suggested condition to suppress any dust generated.

5.3 The New Forest National Park Authority raises concerns over the additional traffic which will be generated as a result of the proposed new use of the site and its adverse impacts on the New Forest National Park.

5.4 Fawley Parish Council raises objection on increased traffic grounds and adverse impact on local amenities.

5.5 The Environment Agency has no objection subject to a drainage condition.

5.6 The Highways Adviser raises no objection subject to restricted use of Park Lane.

5.7 English Heritage raises no objection.

5.8 English Nature has no objection.

5.9 The local Member, Councillor Thornton Dunsdon has been informed of the proposal.

6. Representations

6.1 Eight letters of objection have been received from local residents raising concerns over traffic, noise, dust and vibration levels being intensified.

7. Chief Planning Adviser's Comments

7.1 Local residents consider that the proposals will have an adverse impact on local amenity. There is also concern over the potential for dust and noise being generated.

7.2 The New Forest Environmental Health Officer has not received any complaints regarding the existing site and raises no objection to the current proposal. Fawley Parish Council also raised the issue of pollution. However, this can be satisfactorily addressed by condition and is not considered a ground for refusal.

7.3 As well as increased traffic, the Parish Council and residents suggest that there will be a conflict between pedestrians, horses and vehicles on the access roads, particularly as there is no footpath along Lime Kiln Lane for some distance away from the site. However, the Highways Adviser believes that the increase of traffic movements is insignificant in comparison to the level of traffic which currently uses the Holbury Industrial Estate and adjacent road network.

7.4 The Highways Adviser did raise concern over the possible increase of vehicular movements in Park Lane, as this is a narrow country lane with soft verges, not suitable for commercial traffic. A lorry routing agreement can satisfactorily address this concern.

7.5 The Highways Adviser's comments relate to the immediate road network. However, in order to transport the primary aggregate from Caird Avenue, New Milton or recycled aggregates from Manor Farm, Pennington, lorries would have to cross the New Forest National Park, a major concern to the New Forest National Park Authority, which views this increase in traffic as an unacceptable result of the proposal.

7.6 Encouraging vehicle movements across the National Park area contradicts current and emerging policy. The B3056 and B3054 to the west of the site cross the National Park and are likely to be the most heavily used routes. A long section of this area is unfenced forest and heathland, with grazing ponies and cattle, making it a sensitive area that needs to be protected as far as possible.

7.7 It has been suggested that the increase in aggregates handled at the site would mean that the site would no longer be a smallscale operation. The question of whether or not intensification on this site is appropriate, when taking into account the environmental and policy driven constraints, has been raised by the New Forest National Park Authority as a valid point of concern.

7.8 In conclusion, although the amenity issues raised can be addressed by condition or do not have a significant adverse impact, and notwithstanding that the site is within an established commercial enterprise, it is considered that the application should be refused on the grounds of the detrimental effect that increased commercial traffic will have on the New Forest National Park.

Recommendation

That planning permission in respect of application to import, store and sell primary and recycled aggregates and recycled soils at Holbury Waste Transfer Station, Park Lane, Holbury (86948) be refused for the following reason:

Reason for Refusal

The proposal is contrary to Policy 8 and Policy 46 (i) of the Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan (Adopted 17 December 1998) and Policy MW3 of Hampshire County Structure Plan (Review) 2000, in that the proposal would result in the transportation of materials by large vehicles across the New Forest National Park.

884/KS

Annexe to Reason for Refusal

(as required by Article 22 of the Town and Country Planning

(General Procedure) Order 1995 - as amended)

__________________________________________________________________

Hampshire County Structure Plan (Review) 2000

Policy MW1

Planning authorities will, through policies and proposals in local plans and day-to day development control:

(i) seek to ensure an adequate supply of minerals and provision of waste management facilities to meet needs having regard to the need to: maintain the environmental quality and diversity of Hampshire, including the protection of living conditions; safeguard important socio-economic interests; prevent pollution; and protect features of particular environmental or historical importance including those listed in Policy MW3, Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation and historic parks and gardens;

(ii) seek environmental enhancement and public benefits through minerals and waste development;

(iii) conserve and prevent unnecessary sterilisation of mineral resources and encourage efficient use of materials;

(iv) encourage the use of secondary and recycled aggregate materials; and

(v) seek the management of waste in accordance with the following hierarchy;

1. reduction of waste;

2. re-use of waste;

3. recovery of waste (recycling, composting, energy from waste); and

4. waste disposal;

having regard to the proximity principle and the principle of best practical environmental option.

Policy MW2

Permission will be granted for minerals and waste development provided the mineral/waste planning authority is satisfied that:

(i) any adverse environmental or other impacts that the development would be likely to cause are outweighed by a clearly established need for the development; and

(ii) the proposals, where applicable, include a satisfactory scheme of working and landscaping including details of lorry routeing and, in all cases, include satisfactory measures to ensure that the development would not have any unacceptable environmental, traffic or other impact; and

(iii) the proposals, where applicable, provide for the satisfactory and prompt restoration and after-care of the site to a high standard and to a landform compatible with the local landscape and suitable for an agreed beneficial after-use.

Policy MW3

Permission will not be granted for minerals and waste development which is likely to cause material harm to any of the following designated areas and sites:

The New Forest;

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty;

Special Areas of Conservation;

Special Protection Areas;

Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites);

Sites of Special Scientific Interest;

National Nature Reserves;

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, whether scheduled or not, and their settings;

Conservation Areas;

Listed Buildings; and

Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest on English Heritage's National Register;

except where the Mineral/Waste Planning Authority considers that there is an overriding need for the development to take place in the public interest which outweighs the harm that would be caused, having regard to the level of protection given to the designation concerned in legislation or government guidance.

Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton Minerals and Waste Local Plan (Adopted) 1998

Policy 8

Applications for planning permission for minerals or waste development in the following areas will not be granted save when the development would not prejudice the purpose of the designation and where there is an overriding need for the development to take place in the public interest:

(i) the New Forest Heritage Area;

(ii) Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty;

(iii) National Nature Reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation and Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites);

(iv) Scheduled Ancient Monuments and their settings;

(v) Conservation Areas, Listed Buildings, and sites on the National Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

Policy 46

The Waste Planning Authorities will normally permit the use of land and the erection of plant and buildings for the recycling, transfer, storage and other treatment or handling of waste (excluding waste processing facilities covered by Policy 45) provided that:

(i) the proposed site is located near to the likely source(s) of waste and/or the market(s) for the recycled or recovered materials; and

(ii) the proposed site is located close to and has adequate access to the Hampshire Lorry Route Network (as shown on the proposals map), so that the development would not be likely to cause unacceptable traffic impact (including the environmental impact of traffic) on the local highway network; and

(iii) the proposed site is located:

(a) within an existing industrial site or on land which is permitted or allocated for industrial development; or

(b) within an area of land in the countryside that has already been disturbed by permanent development (a brownfield site); or

(c) at a waste disposal landfill or landraising site provided that the proposed development is connected with the waste disposal operation and is for a temporary period commensurate with the operational life of the waste disposal facility; and

(iv) the proposed site is located and the proposal includes adequate measures to ensure that no unacceptable impact would be likely to be caused to the occupants or users of houses, other residential buildings, schools, hospitals and other environmentally sensitive buildings and land uses by reason of noise, dust, fumes, smell or other cause; and

(v) the proposed site is located so as to avoid unacceptable impact on landscape, nature conservation and archaeological interests; and

(vi) the proposed site is located and the proposal includes adequate measures to ensure that there would be no significant risk of pollution or danger to public health or safety; and

(vii) the proposed site is located and, if necessary, the proposal includes landscaping measures to ensure that the development would not cause unacceptable visual intrusion.