PLANNING SUPPORTING STATEMENT NCC Received 05/06/2017

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK

Use of Land for the importation, storage and processing of construction and infrastructure inert waste

Land Adjacent to Railway Line (Former Highways Depot), Off Great North Road, North Muskham, Newark, NG23 6HN

Applicant: Laffey's Ltd

PLANNING SUPPORTING STATEMENT NCC Received 05/06/2017

June 2017

South View, 16 Hounsfield Way, Sutton on Trent, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG23 6PX Tel: 01636 822528; Mobile 07521 731789; Email: [email protected] Managing Director – Anthony Northcote, HNCert LA(P), Dip TP, PgDip URP, MA, FGS, ICIOB, MInstLM, MCMI, MRTPI TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK is a trading name of Anthony Northcote Planning Ltd, Company Registered in England & Wales (6979909) Website: www.town-planning.co.uk TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

This planning statement has been produced by TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK to support this individual planning proposal and the conclusions it reaches are based only upon the planning application information the LPA has made available on its website, other published information and information provided to the company by the client and/or their representatives.

The author of this report is: Anthony Bryan Northcote, Managing Director of TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK. He holds a Higher National Certificate in Land Administration (Planning) with Distinction; Diploma with Distinction in Town Planning; Post-Graduate Diploma with Distinction in Urban and Regional Planning together with a Master of Arts Degree in Urban and Regional Planning. He was elected to the Royal Town Planning Institute in 1996 and now has over 26 years planning experience within the public and private sectors involving a full range of planning issues. In addition he is also a Member of the Institute of Leadership and Management; a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management; a Member of the Town and Country Planning Association; a Member of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association; a Fellow of the Geological Society; and an Incorporate of the Chartered Institute of Building.

June 2017 Received

NCC 05/06/2017

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

The Site

The formal OS address for the site is Land Adjacent to Railway Line, Off Great North Road, North Muskham, Newark, NG23 6HN. The site is shown below and lies at Grid Reference: 479181 – 358652. It was used for many decades until recently by the Highway Authority (Nottinghamshire County Council) as a highways depot specifically for the importation, storage and processing of construction and infrastructure inert waste. The County Council has we understand terminated its lease of the site. The site is understood to be owned by Mr Butler, although some uncertainty of ownership of all the area remains due to the passage of time.

Received NCC 05/06/2017

It is accessed from Great North Road, the B6325, the access lies 73m south of the North Muskham Roundabout with the A1. The eastern side of the site abuts the highway, the south-western edge of the site abuts the East Coast Mainline Railway line. The land to the west is former railway sidings, known as Muskham Sidings and used since at least 1875, within the same ownership. The site itself was the former public highway

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham route of Great North Road, which crossed the East Coast Mainline by level crossing until the overbridge was built. We are unclear as to the precise date the level crossing was built but the overbridge was in existence at the time of the 1960 OS Map.

Received NCC 05/06/2017

The Surroundings

To the north of the site is a property known as Cherubs Day Nursery, which in 2016 had consent for the change of use of existing building from D1 to mixed use of B1 (main office for social care business, incorporating office administration, meetings and training) and D1 to continue to provide daycare services. To the south is a property known as Downside Cottage, the former crossing cottage, which operates as a

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham mixed residential and taxi operating base. Downside Cottage lies on the opposite side of the East Coast Mainline.

Further north around the A1 roundabout and Bathley Lane there are two dwellings known as Jaymin and The Gate House and the Ashiana Restaurant. Beyond Ashiana Restaurant lie the properties Dairy House and North Road Farm. Further south on Mill Lane, on the other side of the East Coast Mainline in the parish of Bathley, is Railway Cottage and the adjacent Timber Sales Yard. Further to the north-west on the opposite side of the East Coast Mainline on Muskham Lane in Bathley parish lie two properties Corden Lodge and Ashurst.

These properties are the following distances from the application site: Cherubs 112m (to the north) Downside Cottage 17m (to the south-west) Jaymin 155m (to north-west) The Gate House 140m (to north-west) Ashiana Restaurant 150m (to the north) Railway Cottage 319m (to the south) Dairy House 265m (to the north) North Road Farm 309m (to the north) Received Corden Lodge 320m (to the north-west) Ashurst 327m (to the north-west)

NCC 05/06/2017 The nearest properties in North Muskham village are Mill House (450m to the south-east); Tumbleweed on Nelson Lane (239m to the north-east); Brackendale on Waltons Lane (331m to the north-east). These properties lie on the opposite side of the A1.

Site Photographs

We took the following photographs on site on the 2nd December 2016, at this time the site was still in use by Nottinghamshire County Council as the Highway Authority:

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Received NCC 05/06/2017

Location and Direction of Photographs

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Received NCC 05/06/2017

Photograph 1 (Shown by Purple Arrow) – Looking North Across Site Towards Entrance

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Received NCC 05/06/2017

Photograph 2 (Shown by Green Arrow) – Looking South Across Site Towards East Coast Mainline

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Received Photograph 3 (Shown by Orange Arrow) – Looking East Across Adjacent Land Towards Site

NCC 05/06/2017

Photograph 4 (Shown by Blue Arrow) – Material on Site

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Received NCC 05/06/2017

Photograph 5 (Shown by Black Arrow) – Material on Site

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Planning History

We can find no recorded planning history for the site on the Newark & Sherwood District Council online planning records or on the Nottinghamshire County Council online planning records.

There are planning records for the Cherubs Day Nursery to the north, the land to the west and Downsize Cottage to the south of the East Coast Mainline.

Historical Use of the Application Site

The site has been utilised by the County Council as Highway Authority and by a number of private contractors for the importation of inert waste from construction and infrastructure projects. The construction and infrastructure inert waste has been processed and sorted on site, involving crushing and screening activities. It has then been stored on site, often for many months on end before being taken off-site for reuse in construction and infrastructure projects.

Movement of material to and from the site has been by HGV, processing and sorting on site has been undertaken by plant and machinery brought onto the site. Crushing and screening activities have been undertaken by mobile plant brought onto site.

Received We believe that the defined activities applied for has taken place on the site for a period in excess of at least 30 years by our clients as a contractor on behalf of the County Council as Highway Authority. We are aware NCC 05/06/2017 that other contractors have also undertaken the same type of activity on the site over the same period.

The importation of inert waste from construction and infrastructure projects by the County Council has not been undertaken with the benefit of any planning permission. Instead the Highway Authority are of the view that the works have benefitted from permitted development rights under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 and its predecessors. This is understood to have been under Schedule 2, Part 9 - Development relating to roads, Class A (b) – development by highways authorities which states: “A. The carrying out by a highway authority— (a) on land within the boundaries of a road, of any works required for the maintenance or improvement of the road, where such works involve development by virtue of section 55(2)(b)(g) of the Act; or (b) on land outside but adjoining the boundary of an existing highway of works required for or incidental to the maintenance or improvement of the highway.”

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

In this case we have not been able to secure detailed evidence on tonnages imported, stored or processed on site by the Highway Authority. The physical size of the site itself is a limiting factor on the scale of activity that can be carried out on the site. The works undertaken by our clients on behalf of the County Council over several decades has involved the use of the same plant and machinery as would be utilised in the current proposed development.

Photographs of Historical Use from Published Sources

The following site photographs have been obtained from published sources, these illustrate that the site has been utilised for this activity clearly at least since 9th April 2004. The Google Streetview photos actually caught processing utilising mobile plant underway on site. We understand from our clients that the specified use has actually taken place for up to 30 years. These photographs are contained in the Supporting Evidence Document 1.

Photographs of Historical Use from Laffey’s Ltd

The following site photographs have been obtained from our client, Laffey’s Ltd relating to works having been undertaken by them on this site since 2011. Again these illustrate that the site has been utilised for this

activity by them as a contractor regularly since 2011. These are contained in a separate document, SupportingReceived Evidence Document 2.

NCC 05/06/2017 The Proposed Development

The processing and recycling of the excavated tunnel material will include crushing and screening activities, some of the material will be re-used in the laying of the new sewers. The material will fall within the definition of non-hazardous inert waste. The activity will involve mobile processing using temporary crushers and screeners. Progress and timing of the actual sewer scheme will dictate this as a supporting activity.

The Atkins Ltd project description estimates 39,000m3 of spoil being generated by the tunnel and shaft works which will need to be removed from site. Taking account of relevant multipliers this will equate to between 56,160 tonnes and 68,640 tonnes of material dependent upon the makeup of the material and moisture content. Atkins estimated that this would require 1,950 wagon loads of spoil to be moved, with them further estimating this to represent an average of 37 lorry loads per day. Although they think this may peak at around 50 loads during the period of carrying out the bulk dig for the pumping station.

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

The waste arising from the Newark Sewer scheme will not all be taken to the proposed application site, soils will go to South Muskham Lakes where it is being used to construct a new lake bund.

Work on the main bulk of the tunnelling and shaft works is already underway this accounts for the main bulk of material, much of this is currently going to Muskham Lakes. Depending upon the timing of determination of this application the application site is likely therefore to be primarily used for the material arising from the traditional open cut/trench construction replacing existing sewers and water pipes.

The proposed development will involve the following: Time Period 3 Years from date of grant Lorry Movements 20-25 per week (1,000-1,250 per annum) Tonnages 360-450 tonnes per week (18,000-22,500 tonnes per annum) Processing To occur on a campaign basis, estimated to be 2 or 3 days every 4 to 6 weeks

Lorry movements will probably need to operate from 07:30 to 19:00 (potentially 7 days a week), processing activity is likely to occur between 08:00 and 18:00 daily (only Monday to Friday).

Plant to be Utilised Received NCC 05/06/2017

The Mobile Crushing and Screening Plant

Illustrative Layout

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Illustrative Sketch of Proposed Layout

General Planning Principles

The pre-application advice from the County Council indicated that the principle of development is generallyReceived acceptable, in particular the development would support the sustainable management of waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy in Policy WCS3 of the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Waste Core NCC 05/06/2017 Strategy.

Main Planning Issues

As we consider the main planning issues relevant to this application are:  The impact of the development on the character and appearance of the Countryside;  The relationship to the provisions of the Development Plan; and  Material Planning Considerations including the importance of the Newark Sewer Scheme to the growth and development of Newark.

The Development Plan

The LPA identified the following Development Plan policies to be relevant: Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Waste Core Strategy Policy WCS3

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

Policy WCS7

Newark and Sherwood Allocations and Development Policies DPD Policy NUA/SPA/1 Policy DM8

When an application is made for planning permission, the LPA shall have regard to the provisions of the development plan, so far as material to the application, any local finance considerations, so far as material to the application, and to any other material considerations (s70(2) Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990)).

This point is reinforced by s38(6) Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (PCPA), which states if regard is to be had to the development plan for the purpose of any determination to be made under the Planning Acts the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Although s38 (6) PCPA 2004 imposes a duty on the LPA to determine the application in accordance with the plan, it also has to have regard to any other material considerations. Material considerations are those land Received use planning matters relevant to the particular decision and include, for example, national policy guidance.

Planning Considerations NCC 05/06/2017

The temporary use proposed is unique being tied explicitly to the Newark Sewer Scheme, the application scheme involves excavated material from a major infrastructure project. The recycling and reuse of such materials is supported in principle by National and Local Planning Policy.

Whilst aggregates management and recycling facilities is not unusual per se, this proposal as a temporary development linked to the processing of the material from the Newark Sewer Scheme could be considered to be an unusual proposal. It also needs to be addressed with a degree of pragmatism whilst not losing sight of the planning policy objectives of protecting the countryside and the landscape and promoting sustainable development.

In planning appeal APP/B3030/A/10/21315536 relating to the storage of topsoil on land to the west of Drove Lane in Coddington (the former Winthorpe Airfield) the Inspector stated: “Bearing this in mind I take the view that topsoil storage is not a particularly suitable use for an urban area and an industrial estate in particular, where such land has normally been allocated on the basis that it is suitable for more intensive employment 15

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham uses, often including buildings. I acknowledge that such estates can and often do include outside storage areas, but in this case the topsoil storage would involve an especially low ratio between the amount of employment generated and the extent of land used.”

The same considerations apply to the current proposal where the processing, crushing and screening activity will be a low intensity use in terms of employment generated in relation to the land actually utilised. We have looked at alternative sites in employment/industrial areas as detailed in the alternative sites document, all of which have been discounted. For the most part precluded due to difficulties of siting, logistics and, in particular, viability because of the cost of constructing such an extensive area of hard surface.

The site is positioned close to the Newark Urban Area which would minimise HGV journeys. It is also accessible to the strategic highway network around Newark, in particular the A616/B6325 and A1.

The material on site will be changing throughout the duration of the project the material on site at any one time can be limited by planning condition such that the mounds of material are potentially capable of being assimilated within a rural landscape without causing harm. The site has previously contained piles of stored waste material which has been uncontrolled by any planning restrictions.

Received The site is located within the open countryside in planning terms, Policy DM8, Development in the Open Countryside of the Newark and Sherwood Allocations and Development Policies DPD, in accordance with the

requirements of Spatial Policy 3, identifies that development away from the main built up areas of villages,NCC 05/06/2017 in the open countryside, will be strictly controlled. This policy does not of course address waste related development as that is a County Matter. It does however support small scale employment development where it can demonstrate the need for a particular rural location. As previously identified there is a strategic need to find a location for this proposal as close as practical to the Newark Urban Area. This site is the only immediately available site with suitable hard standing within short distance of the main Newark Sewer Scheme activities. It has been utilised for the same purpose by the County Council as the Highway Authority for at least 30 years.

Drawing these points together, although the proposed use does not fall within any of the categories identified under NSADP Policy DM8, I conclude that the principle of the use of a countryside location in general and the site in particular is not necessarily unacceptable and harmful. Furthermore, in the particular circumstances of this case the use would be a sustainable form of development consistent with the principles and objectives of Policy WCS7 of the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Waste Core Strategy.

TOWN-PLANNING.CO.UK Great North Road, North Muskham

I consider that the quality of landscape in this part of the countryside is already compromised by the hard surfacing of the former depot use, the East Coast Mainline, the B6325 overbridge and the elevated A1 flyover. The visual impact of the proposed use has to be judged with those elements, along with the predominantly flat landform and the indigenous vegetation. All of these factors will minimise any impact on the character and appearance of the countryside.

Development proposals also need to be assessed with regard to any adverse effect on the amenities of neighbouring properties in terms of such factors as noise, dust and other forms of pollution and nuisance. There is also a need to consider the provision of access. The limited travel distances involved in this proposal meet the requirements of Policy WCS11 Sustainable Transport of the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Waste Core Strategy.

Paragraph 7.38 of the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Waste Core Strategy identifies that: “Temporary aggregates recycling facilities may be appropriate at quarries or landfill sites where this can encourage greater re-use and recycling and they are linked to the life of that facility.” As this proposal is linked to an infrastructure project the potential exception that Policy WCS7 identifies needs to be considered. Crushing and screening of construction and demolition waste (soils, aggregate etc.) is often carried out on site as part of the construction/demolition project. This does not normally require specific planning permission. In this Received case however due to the location of the works in the public highway it not feasible to undertake on site processing. This site has historically been used by the Highway Authority for waste processing adjacent to

the highway as a more feasible alternative to processing on the highway at the point of excavation.NCC This 05/06/2017 proposal looks to do the same.

Policy WCS7 of the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Waste Core Strategy identifies that some forms of recycling facilities are suitable for derelict land/other previously developed land, i.e. land that is no longer needed or has been abandoned. The Policy identifies that this could include former un-restored or poorly restored colliery land in need of restoration, old quarries, disused railway land etc. This former disused depot falls into that category, therefore Policy WCS7 does lend some general policy support towards some waste related facilities being acceptable on this site.