Item No.
6
Case Officer:
Mr J Gilfillan
Site:
New Earth Composting facility, Site Control Office,
Magna Road, Poole, Dorset, BH21 3AW
Application No:
08/31392/018/F
Date Received:
9th May 2008
Agent:
White Young Green Mrs T Filtcroft Empress House 12
Empress Road Lyndhurst Hants SO43 7AE
Applicant:
New Earth Solutions & W H White P L C
Development:
Erect extension to existing composting facility.
Ward:
P 160 Merley & Bearwood
This application is brought before the Planning Committee because it is a
departure from the Poole Local Plan and the Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole
Waste Local Plan.
Site Description
The application site is at the western end of the area known as the Site
Control Centre adjacent to Whites Pit, a landfill site in the South East Dorset
Green Belt, to the south west of Magna Road and the Canford Park Events
Arena.
The Site Control Centre is surrounded by a landscaped embankment and
consists of a complex of buildings, including a small power station, a two
storey portacabin office, three linked warehouse halls used for the existing
composting operation, a reception hall for the compost operation. At the
eastern end of the site is the ‘Canford Recycling’ inert waste recycling
operation.
At the western end is the B4 balancing lagoon, related to the discharge of
effluent from the landfill site.
Canford Heath to the south is designated as an SSSI, SPA, SAC and Ramsar
Site, recognising the international importance of the habitats and species that
occupy that area. To the south-east are the Frogmore Wood Site of Nature
Conservation Interest and the west Stoats Wood.
The site control centre is surrounded by woodland covered by a Tree
Preservation Area.
Access to the site is from the light controlled junction with Magna Road.
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Relevant Planning History
2002: Planning permission Granted to erect a fully enclosed composting
facility; given a temporary 25 year consent because of its Green Belt location,
which expires in January 2027. This temporary permission was based on the
siting of equipment to deal with the outputs from the landfill site, expected to
be on site until 2027.
2004: Planning Permission Granted to erect a 3rd enclosed composting hall
adjacent to the existing 2 constructed under the above permission.
Jan 2007: Planning Permission Granted to erect a new waste preparation
building to the west of the existing composting halls.
Current Proposal
To erect a detached building to provide additional composting halls and
maturation bays linked by an overhead conveyor to the existing waste
reception/sorting hall and the ancillary water treatment tanks, air scrubbers
and bio filter.
The existing settlement lagoon, Lake B4, will be drained and partially filled to
provide the land on which to build the proposed complex of buildings.
The new facility would provide an additional capacity of 50,000 tonnes per
year to the existing 50,000.
REPRESENTATIONS
The Head of Transportation: No objection.
The Head of Environmental and Consumer Protection Services: No
objection but indicates that the Borough of Poole does not have a current or
future strategy for using the technology this facility will deliver. Furthermore, it
has a contract in place to divert the required volumes of waste away from
landfill over the Waste Plan period.
The Head of Leisure Services:
replacement landscaping.
No objection subject to appropriate
The Head of Dorset County Council Planning: Identifies the application as
a departure from the B, D & P Waste Local Plan due to its location but
supports the proposal for the contribution towards waste management.
The Environment Agency: No objection.
Natural England: Object to the lack of information relating to the potential
harm to the surrounding natural habitats caused by he emissions.
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Relevant Planning Policy
The following policies of the Poole Local Plan First Alteration Adopted March
2004 (as amended by Secretary of State Direction September 2007) are
relevant to this application:BE1 -(Design Code)
BE2 -Landscaping)
NE1 -(Pollution and Noise)
NE2 -(New Buildings in the Green Belt)
NE3 -(Open Character of the Green Belt)
NE15 -(Sites of International Importance)
NE16 -(SSSI)
NE17 -(Development adjacent to Heathland)
NE19 -(Sites of Nature Conservation Interest)
NE28 -(Tree Preservation Orders)
T13 -(Traffic Generated by Development)
E16 -(Location and Layout of Potentially Polluting Uses)
The following policies of the Bournemouth, Dorset & Poole Waste Local Plan
are relevant to this application:Policy 5 – (National Designations)
Policy 26 – (Applications falling within sites identified in Schedule 1)
Schedule 1 – Schedule of Preferred Sites and Potential Uses
Policy 35 – (In Vessel Composting)
Inset Map No.10 – Site Control Centre at Canford Magna.
National Planning Guidance:
Planning Policy Guidance Note 2 – Green Belts
Planning Policy Statement Note 10 – Planning for Sustainable Waste
Management
Planning Considerations.
The application site falls within the South East Dorset Green Belt, where there
is a presumption against inappropriate development. The first test on which to
assess the application against is whether the development proposed is
identified by PPG2, and the Poole Local Plan, as appropriate development in
the Green Belt.
Appropriate development relates to agriculture and forestry, essential facilities
for outdoor sport and recreation and limited extensions and alterations to, or
replacement of, existing dwellings.
The waste management operation proposed would not be an appropriate form
of development in the Green Belt, the proposal would therefore be contrary to
Policies NE2 and NE3 of the Poole Local Plan.
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No evidence has been put forward to justify why the presumption against
inappropriate development should be set aside and the proposed
development considered acceptable as exceptional circumstances.
The application fails the Green Belt appropriate development test.
Whilst the design of the proposed building would be similar to those already
on the site it would by reason of its inappropriateness harm the open
character of the Green Belt.
PPS10 requires Planning Authorities to move the management and treatment
of waste up the waste hierarchy, addressing waste as a resource and viewing
disposal as a final option.
It recognises the need to protect Green Belts but also the particular locational
needs of some types of waste management facilities in determining planning
applications, that these locational needs, together with the wider
environmental and economic benefits of sustainable waste management, are
material considerations that should be given significant weight in determining
whether proposals should be given planning permission.
Planning applications for sites that have not been identified, or are not located
in an area identified, as the proposed site, in a development plan document as
suitable for new or enhanced waste management facilities should be
considered favourably when consistent with:

the physical and environmental constraints on development;

the cumulative effect of previous waste disposal facilities on the well-being
of the local community;

the capacity of existing and potential transport infrastructure to support the
sustainable movement of waste and

give priority to the re-use of previously-developed land.
The PPS suggests criteria against which to assess potential sites, whilst it
does not make specific mention of Green Belts it does refer to the potential
impact on land of specific nature conservation interest.
The proposal falls under the Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole Waste Local
Plan, adopted in 2006, it identifies the boundaries, scale and range of
activities being carried out at the ‘Site Control Centre’. Inset map 10 to that
document indicates that the proposed new buildings would fall outside of the
area identified in the Waste Local Plan as the waste management site. It is
therefore considered to be a departure from the Waste Local Plan.
Policy 5 of the Waste Local Plan does not permit applications that will have a
detrimental impact on sites of international importance unless it can be
demonstrated that the reasons for waste development outweigh the national
nature conservation interest.
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Policy 26 identifies that applications for within the sites and uses, as set out in
Schedule 1 will be permitted provided that the application demonstrates to the
Waste Planning Authority that the proposal complies with the other relevant
policies in the Waste Local Plan.
Schedule 1 identifies that the Site Control Centre has the potential for InVessel Composting and Aggregates Recycling, with the latter identified as
having the potential for expansion.
The land subject to the application is outside of the identified site however the
following policy is relevant to the proposal.
Policy 35 sets out criteria against which to assess In-Vessel composting
proposals:

Para i) permits development of allocated or permitted employment land.
The application site is neither of the above.

Para ii) on land previously used for employment/industrial/agricultural
purposes which do not require substantial alteration.
The land requires infilling the man made settlement lagoon. The entire site is
a former gravel pit, which was subsequently filled by the Borough of Poole
with household waste.
The permission to form the Site Control Centre to deal with the emissions and
output from the adjacent landfill site was based on the continued discharge,
once these diminished the equipment to deal with them was required to be
removed and the land made good. This includes draining and infilling the
settlement lagoon.
The applicant has indicated that the liquid discharges have reduced to a level
where the lagoon is no longer required in its entirety.

Para iii) suggests sites at existing landfill operations are appropriate but
where they are restricted to the life of the landfill operations.
Whites Pit, to the west, is close to the site, infilling is expected to continue until
May 2009, although the Planning Permission permitting the deposition of
waste until 2010.

Para iv) permits composting where it is adjacent to other waste
management facilities.
The proposal is an extension to the existing composting operation at the Site
Control Centre, the ‘Canford Recycling’ inert waste recycling operation and
the gas powered energy power station.
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
Para v) permits In-Vessel composting where the entire process can take
place in enclosed buildings.
The proposed composting process is carried out entirely within the buildings
on site.
The proposal does meet several of the above considerations but does not
meet others and due to its location outside of the land identified as being the
Site Control Centre it is contrary to the policies of the Waste Local Plan.
The proposed operation whilst satisfactory to the Environment Agency it
would result in air emissions that would contain levels of Nitrogen Oxide and
Ammonia that could potentially have harmful impacts on the surrounding
designated areas.
Natural England has objected to the proposal based on uncertainties in the
research and assessment submitted. It cannot therefore be accepted that the
proposal will not have a detrimental impact on the internationally designated
habitats in close proximity to the site. As such the proposal would be contrary
to Policy 5 of the Waste Local Plan
The proposal would give rise to an increase in vehicle movements. Using the
existing access from the light control junction on Magna Road highway safety
would be maintained. The additional traffic would have a negligible impact on
the traffic flows and impact on residents along Magna Road and Queen Anne
Drive.
Provision would be made on site to accommodate parking for staff, including
facilities to store bikes. The roads would be hard surfaced, minimising the
potential for mud/dirt being a nuisance.
Due to the location of the development it would not have a detrimental impact
on the amenities of local residential areas. The closest being properties on
Wheelers Lane to the east of the site, approximately 0.9km away.
Waste authorities are required to reduce the volumes of waste that are sent to
landfill. This proposal would provide additional capacity to deal with green
waste in a sustainable manor, resulting in a re-useable product.
The Waste Local Plan identifies the existing composting facility and one other
site, within the plan area, as bringing forward a similar composting facility, at
Binnegar Quarry in Purbeck. The applicants have carried out a review of
alternative Green Belt sites, identifying that their own site as the most
appropriate, however sites beyond the Green Belt have not been explored.
As waste authority the Borough of Poole has contracts in place to divert its
waste away from landfill, meeting the requirements placed on it. Whilst this
facility may offer the Borough of Poole the opportunity to dispose of ‘green’
waste there are no proposals to do so at present.
The Waste Local Plan covers Dorset and seeks to ensure facilities are
available across the County to deal with all waste streams. As such this
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facility has the potential to deal with ‘green’ waste generated locally, so whilst
Poole may not choose to send waste to it, other authorities across the County
may make use of it.
Whilst there is a need for this form of development within the County, due to
the location of the site in the Green Belt and the nature of the development
being inappropriate development it would be harmfully to the openness of the
Green Belt. On the basis of the application site being outside of the area
identified as the ‘Site Control Centre’ in the Waste Local Plan, it would not be
appropriate to set aside the Green Belt location and consider the proposal as
a very special circumstance.
RECOMMENDATION
REFUSE
Reasons for Refusal
1 ( Non Standard Reason )
The proposal would be inappropriate development and therefore by definition
harmful to the openness of the Green Belt. The proposal would therefore be
contrary to Policies BE2 and BE3 of the Poole Local PLan First Alteration
Adopted 2004 (As amended by Secretary of State direction Sept 2007).
2 ( Non Standard Reason )
Insufficient information has been submitted to allow proper consideration of
the impact on the legally protected internationally designated habitats from the
emission of nitrogen oxides and ammonia at levels that could be harmful. The
proposals are therefore contrary to Policies NE1, NE15, NE16, NE17 & NE19
of the Poole Local Plan First Alteration Adopted 2004 (As amended by
Secretary of State direction Sept 2007) and Policy 5 of the Bournemouth,
Dorset & Poole Waste Local Plan 2006.
3 ( Non Standard Reason )
Due to the siting of the proposal outside of the allocated land at the Site
Control Centre, the proposal would be contrary to Policy 26 of the
Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole Waste Local Plan Adopted 2006.
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