Aberdeen Local Development Plan Main Issues Report Representations Altens East
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Aberdeen Local Development Plan Main Issues Report Representations Altens East Kris Furness SITA UK 24/03/2014 Project Quality Assurance Information Sheet Aberdeen Local Development Plan, Main Issues Report Representations Altens East Report Status: FINAL Report Date: March 2014 Prepared by: Kris Furness SITA UK Assistant Planning Manager Main Kris Furness Contributors: SITA UK Assistant Planning Manager Reviewed by: Carol Jacques SITA UK Senior Bid Manager Peter Lawrence Aberdeen City Council Waste and Recycling Manager Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................ii REPRESENTATIONS................................................................................................ 1 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1 2. BACKGROUND AND NEED......................................................................... 4 3. THE SITE AND PROPOSAL....................................................................... 12 4. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS................................................ 24 5. PLANNING POLICY.................................................................................... 26 6. ALTERNATIVES ......................................................................................... 32 7. CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................... 37 Drawings 5125176/C/P/200 Rev 05 - Site Layout, MRF, RDF & Depot Page i of ii Aberdeen Zero Waste Project – Planning Appraisal, Altens East EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This development plan representation has been prepared by SITA UK with the assistance of Aberdeen City Council Waste and Recycling Department (ACCWRD) as part of the Aberdeen Zero Waste Project (AZWP). It requests that the forthcoming Aberdeen Local Development plan includes the allocation of additional land adjacent to the existing Altens East, Opportunity Site 70 / OP70 designation. This additional land would be used for the co-location of a depot with the already allocated waste management facilities. This representation has followed a significant period of evaluation and assessment for the potential development of waste management facilities in Aberdeen City. There is a clear and identified need for new waste management infrastructure to manage municipal wastes and achieve statutory targets and comply with relevant legislation. Significant benefits can also be realised by co-locating the depot on the same site was the waste management facilities and there is an identified need to relocate the depot due to the Berryden Corridor proposals. However, the existing Altens East ‘OP70’ site is too small for the development of priority waste facilities and the depot. This document demonstrates that there are no viable alternative sites available for the development of the co-located facilities in the City. Furthermore, taking account of the existing Altens East ‘OP70’ designation for waste management infrastructure which has established the principle of development of the bordering land, SITA UK and ACCWRD consider that the extension of the designation would be unlikely to result in significant impacts on the environment. Taking these factors into consideration, SITA UK and ACCWRD request that this representation to extend the Altens East ‘OP70’ allocation is given full support and included within the forthcoming Aberdeen Local Development Plan. Page ii of ii Aberdeen Zero Waste Project – Planning Appraisal, Altens East REPRESENTATIONS – ALTENS EAST 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. This representation has been prepared by SITA UK with the assistance of Aberdeen City Council (ACC) Waste and Recycling Department (WRD). 1.2. SITA UK is ACC’s Waste Management Services Contractor (WMSC) and is responsible for the management of waste in Aberdeen City and the operation of the required waste management facilities. 1.3. As part of the WMSC, SITA UK has been working with ACCWRD on a project known as the Zero Waste Management Project (ZWMP). ACCWRD have established this project with the intention of developing infrastructure for the sustainable management of municipal waste in the city. 1.4. The primary aim of the project was to identify one site which would be capable of containing several new waste strategic management facilities, including an Energy from Waste plant (EFW) Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) and an In- Vessel Composting (IVC) or Anaerobic Digestion plant (AD). 1.5. Some of the above infrastructure, such as the MRF is required immediately in order to comply with formal targets and legislation. The EFW is a longer term project, but in order to deal with municipal residual waste (‘black bag’ waste that remains after recycling) an interim measure is planned to divert the material from landfill in the meantime. 1.6. This interim measure is known as a Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plant. RDF is a process where the municipal residual waste is processed in order to create a fuel. This fuel can then be exported to an appropriate facility elsewhere to recover energy from the material. Page 1 of 38 Aberdeen Zero Waste Project – Representations, Altens East 1.7. The RDF facility would recover energy from residual wastes until such a point as ACC could deliver a standalone EFW or identify an alternative long term solution. This would drive the waste up the hierarchy and provide a more sustainable solution than continued landfilling. 1.8. Following a review of the market, the primary target of identifying one suitable, available and viable site capable of delivering all of the facilities within the City has been unsuccessful. The ZWMP has, therefore, resolved to proceed with the identification of a site suitable for the immediate delivery of the MRF and RDF plant. 1.9. A site suitable for the development of these facilities has already been allocated within the existing Aberdeen Local Development Plan (ALDP). The site is referred to as ‘Altens East’ – ‘Opportunity Site 70’ or ‘OP70’. It is located at the edge of the established Altens industrial estate and adjacent to Peterseat Employment Park. 1.10. As part of the ZWMP, it was also identified that significant efficiencies and savings can be generated by co-locating the ACC vehicle depot, which is currently located at Kittybrewster, on the same site as the new waste management infrastructure. 1.11. The present ACC vehicle depot is located on land that will be redeveloped as part of the Berryden Corridor works associated with the the new third River Don crossing. It is, therefore, necessary to develop an alternative depot within the same timeframe as the waste facilities. 1.12. Due to the development footprint of the MRF and RDF, it is not possible to accommodate these facilities and the depot on the existing Altens East ‘OP70’ allocation (around 2.9 hectares). Therefore, the purpose of this representation is to request the allocation of additional surrounding land, totalling approximately 1 hectare within the forthcoming ALDP for the development of Page 2 of 38 Aberdeen Zero Waste Project – Representations, Altens East the depot on the same site, in order to realise the benefits and efficiencies identified. 1.13. These representations detail the background for the project along with justification for the designation of additional land at Altens East for the depot. Page 3 of 38 Aberdeen Zero Waste Project – Representations, Altens East 2. BACKGROUND AND NEED 2.1. In April 2010, ACC adopted the Aberdeen City Waste Strategy 2010-2025 (ACWS). The document “provides a statement of the key outcomes for all waste management in the city for the next 15 years and provides a framework for the development of the next generation of waste infrastructure and services”. 2.2. The key driver of ACWS is to move the city from a position where materials are landfilled to one where they should be put to some form of beneficial use, in accordance with European, National, Regional and Local targets and relevant legislation. 2.3. Section 4.22 in ACWS highlights the waste production in Aberdeen at the time of publishing (2007/2008 figures). This highlights that Aberdeen produced 138,459 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) – waste that falls under the control of a local authority, such as that produced by households, taken to Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC), street cleaning and litter etc. 2.4. Of the 138,459 tonnes collected in 2007/2008, 107,658 (77.8%) was landfilled and 30801 tonnes (22.2%) was recycled or composted. The most recent figures which can be directly compared are from 2010/2011, in this period Aberdeen had a total collection of 118,049 tonnes, with 80,578 tonnes (68.3%) landfilled and 37,471 tonnes (31.7%) recycled or composted. 2.5. The reporting definitions changed from 2011 and it is difficult to directly compare with the previous figures, nonetheless, the most recent available data for the 2012 calendar year indicates that Aberdeen had total household waste arisings of 97,242 tonnes, which was broken down into 60,988 tonnes landfilled (62.7%) and 36,242 tonnes (37.3%) recycled or composted. 2.6. The above figures demonstrate that some progress is being made on driving waste up the hierarchy and reducing disposal. However, the best performing Page 1 of 38 Aberdeen Zero Waste Project – Representations, Altens East authorities were recycling/composting up to 58.9% of their materials in 2012 and the average for Scotland was 41.2%. ACC are keen to make further improvements in the short term.