02/00866/Min Waste Management Facility
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02/00866/MIN WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY INCLUDING MATERIALS RECOVERY, COMPOSTING , BIOLOGICAL WASTE TREATMENT, ENERGY RECOVERY, CONTINUED LANDFILL AND ASSOCIATED CLAY EXTRACTION, ACCESS ROAD, VISITOR CENTRE, CAR PARKING, RAIL ACCESS, RAIL SIDINGS, RAIL RECEPTION AREA, RAIL CONTAINER LOADING AND UNLOADING PLANT AND RAIL CONTAINER STORAGE AREA AT Bletchley Landfill Site, Bletchley Road, Newton Longville FOR Shanks Waste Services Limited The Proposal Planning permission is being sought for an Integrated Waste Management Facility to be sited at Bletchley Landfill Site. The proposal includes facilities for materials recovery from waste, buildings for composting and other biological treatment, plant for the recovery of energy from residential waste through thermal treatment, a research and development complex, a visitor centre, continued landfill and associated day working, a new road access connecting to the Stoke Hammond bypass when constructed, offices and car parking, a new rail access and rail reception area comprising a rail spur from the Bletchley to Oxford line, rail sidings and an associated area for container loading, unloading and storage. The Application Site The application site extends to 155 hectares as the development site includes the existing landfill site. The final landform of the landfill site would be altered from that recently given planning permission to enable the proposed waste management facility to be sited at the lowered ground level within the former brick clay pit. The application site straddles the boundary of this authority and Buckinghamshire County Council. The parts of the application comprising the composting facility, the rail reception area and the southern part of the new access road would, therefore, fall to Buckinghamshire County Council to determine. The majority of the built development would be located in the North Eastern corner of the landfill site. It would be bounded on its eastern edge by the Blue Lagoon country park and to the north by the fields which lie between the existing landfill site and the Oxford to Bletchley Railway line. At the western end of the application site the boundary is extended northwards to include some of the field adjacent to the railway line and the former brickworks site to accommodate the proposed railway sidings and the area for container loading and unloading and storage. The remaining landfill area to the south and west of the proposed development would continue until restored to fields and woodlands principally for nature conservation purposes. A new vehicular access consented with the planning permission for the recontouring of the landfill site would run parallel to the west coast main line to link the proposed development with the Stoke Hammond bypass when this is developed. Vehicular access (up to 750 deliveries per day) would be via this access. Residential areas, including schools, are located beyond the field to the north of the area where the majority of built development is proposed to be located and beyond the Blue Lagoon, the west coast mainline and Drayton Road to the east. Residential properties lie immediately beyond the railway line at the point at which the railway sidings and associated development would be located to the north. At this point the nearest residential property would be approximately 40 metres from the proposed railway siding junction. The nearest residential property would be 345 metres from the main development area. The fluidised bed energy recovery plant would be 645 metres from the nearest residential property. Development Details The most prominent part of the development is the fluidised bed energy recovery plant. Within this building the residual waste, following materials recovery and bio-drying would be burned. Energy would be recovered in the form of electricity generated within the building, and the heat itself which could be used within development scheduled to take place in the vicinity. This Energy from Waste building would be 63 metres tall and have two chimney stacks reaching 103 metres. It would, however, be located approximately 15 metres below the original ground level within the former brick clay pit. This building would cover a ground area of 8380 square metres. The building is of curvilinear form with the footprint being a series of ellipses and oblongs with the roofline being a series of compound and symmetrical curves. The building would be clad in metal panelling with lowered sections at the eaves and southern end of the building in plastic coated sheet metal coloured blue/green. To the north of this building would be a line of 5 Bio-materials recycling buildings each covering an area of 2,835 square metres. These would be approximately 15 metres high and clad in sheet steel/aluminium. These would have shallow pitched eaves and be of a general industrial/commercial appearance. These would be linked to the fluid bed energy recovery building by conveyors. To the east of the bio-mrf buildings would be five similar buildings, but of varying sizes which would accommodate segregated materials recovery (3940 sq. metres), a maintenance workshop and store (1,180 sq. metres), a staff welfare facility (675 sq. metres), mixed materials recovery (3,940 sq. metres) and an early landfill store (3,660 sq. metres). To the west of the fluid bed energy recovery building two further buildings, similar to those housing the bio-mrfs, are proposed. These would provide for a research centre (1,405 sq. metres) and an ash conditioning unit (2,700). A compound is proposed between these two buildings. Free standing air coolers associated with the fluid bed energy facility would be located to the east of the main building. The complex would be landscaped with areas containing grass, shrubs and trees and a linear water feature running the length of the southern boundary of the complex. A building containing a visitor centre would be located between the waste processing complex and the site entrance. This building would contain a lecture theatre, seminar room and offices. This building would reflect the main building with part of its roof structure having a curvilinear form. It would also feature a round tower and flat metal panelling. The proposed rail reception area includes a hall with a ground area of 2,800 sq. metres to contain the composting clamps , a chipping shredding building of 300 sq. metres and a compost bagging building of 240 sq. metres. The larger building would be 12 metres high, the two smaller buildings, 8.5 metres. The rail reception/composting area would be linked to the main compound by a site haul road which would run along the northern boundary of the landfill site. An acoustic bund would be provided to screen vehicular noise substituted by a fence where space is limited. The final length of the road would run through a tunnel. Planning Policy National Planning Policy Guidance Note 23 : Planning and Pollution Control (July 1994) PPG 23 details those matters which are to be considered by Waste Planning Authorities and those which are the responsibility of the Environment Agency. It aims to prevent unnecessary duplication of the controls emphasising that waste planning authorities should assume that pollution prevention will be adequately dealt with through the waste licencing system operated by the Environment Agency. It does, however, specify that it is the function of the waste planning authority to determine the most appropriate locations for waste facilities taking account of the surrounding land uses. Planning Policy Guidance Note 10 Planning and Waste Management (Sept 1999) PPG10 replaced parts of PPG23 providing advice on how the land-use system should contribute to sustainable waste management. In particular, it emphasises that waste disposal methods should represent the Best Practical Environmental Option. Local Buckinghamshire County Structure Plan 1991-2011 remains the strategic planning policy document for the Milton Keynes area. It contains a number of policies relevant to the proposal. Policy WM1 supports the establishment of recycling and associated facilities in locations where there would be no significant adverse impact on the environment. Policy WM3 seeks to ensure the provision of adequate capacity for the safe disposal of waste arising in Buckinghamshire. It refers to the accommodation of a proportion of waste disposal requirements originating from outside of the County. Policy WM4 generally supports the filling of voids created by mineral extraction with waste where this enables the land to be returned to an appropriate after use. Policy T12 encourages the local planning authorities: (i) To seek to use rail for the carriage of freight. (ii) To site suitable new industries in growth areas next to railway lines to which sidings could connect. (iii) To consider favourable the establishment of rail freight depots. (iv) To favour developments which would maximise the use of rail rather than those that would use road access, as long as there would be no conflict with any other structure plan policy. Policy EN2 supports proposals for the generation of energy from renewable resources as long as there is no conflict with other structure plan policies and no adverse environmental impact on nearby communities. The policy specifically refers to proposals for the incineration of waste materials as an example of such an energy project. Policy P1 states that planning permission should be withheld from potentially polluting developments which would pose unacceptable risks to other land uses.