Yr Arolyglaeth Gynllunio, Adellad y Goron, Parc The Planning Inspectorate, Crown Buildings, Cathays Cathays, Park, Caerdydd CF10 3NQ 029 2082 3889 Ffacs 029 2082 Cardiff CF10 3NQ 029 2082 3889 Fax 029 2082 5150 5150 Adroddiad Report Ymchwiliad a agorwyd ar 05/09/00 Inquiry opened on 05/09/00 Ymchwiliad a gaewyd ar 25/01/01 Inquiry closed on 25/01/01 gan/by P J Macdonald MSc RIBA MRTPI Arolygydd penodwyd gan Cynulliad An Inspector appointed by the Cenedlaethol Cymru National Assembly for Wales Dyddiad/date: 10/07/2001 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 SECTION 77 FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL PLANNING APPLICATION BY WELSH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY Cyf ffeil/File ref: APP/A6835/X/99/513437/TX CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1.0 FACTS NOT IN DISPUTE 2.0 SITE DESCRIPTION 3.0 HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORTATION 4.0 PLANNING HISTORY 5.0 PLANNING POLICY BACKGROUND 6.0 ALYN AND DEESIDE LOCAL PLAN 7.0 THE CASE FOR THE APPLICANTS 8.0 THE CASE FOR FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL 9.0 THE CASE FOR THE GROUPED OBJECTORS 10.0 THE CASE FOR NAW AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT 11.0 THE CASE FOR NAW TRANSPORT DIRECTORATE 12.0 THE CASE FOR FLINTSHIRE GREEN PARTY 13.0 THE CASE FOR BURTON MERE FISHERIES 14.0 THE CASE FOR INTERESTED PERSONS 15.0 WRITTEN REPRESENTATIONS 16.0 CONDITIONS AND AGREEMENTS 17.0 CONCLUSIONS 18.0 RECOMMENDATIONS APPEARANCES DOCUMENTS ABBREVIATIONS AADT: Annual average daily total (of vehicles) AOD: Above Ordnance Datum ADLP: Alyn and Deeside Local Plan ALC: Agricultural Land Classification BAP: Biodiversity Action Plan CCW : Countryside Council for Wales CRF: Congestion Reference Flow (of traffic) CSPFA: Clwyd County Structure Plan: First Alteration DDZ: Deeside Development Zone DIP: Deeside Industrial Park FBT: Farm Business Tenancy FCC: Flintshire County Council GDP: Gross domestic product MAFF: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food MOD: Ministry of Defence NAW: National Assembly for Wales NAWAD: NAW Agriculture Department NEWT: North East Wales Institute, Wrexham NRTF: National road traffic forecast PGW: Planning Guidance (Wales): Planning Policy (the 1999 edition unless otherwise stated) RSPB: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds RIGS: Regionally important geological site SPA: Special Protection Area (Birds Directive) SME: Small and medium enterprises SSSI : Site of Special Scientific Interest TIA : Traffic impact assessment UDP: Unitary Development Plan Vph: Vehicles per hour WDA : Welsh Development Agency WOAD: Welsh Office Agriculture Department WTB: W T Banks (Farming) Ltd Room 1-004 The Planning Inspectorate Cathays Park Cardiff CF10 3NQ To the National Assembly for Wales INTRODUCTION 1. I have the honour to report that on 5 September 2000 I opened an Inquiry at Theatre Clwyd, Mold into a planning application made in the first instance to Flintshire County Council on 5 June 1997, and subsequently called-in by the then Secretary of State for Wales on 9 October 1997 for his own decision, under the powers conferred on him by Section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The application (described in more detail below) is for business and industrial development on land north-east of Shotwick Road, Deeside Development Zone, Flintshire. 2. The reason for the call-in was that the then Secretary of State was of the opinion that the proposed development raised planning issues of more than local importance, and therefore he considered that he ought to determine the application himself. On 3 August 1999, the National Assembly issued a letter stating that, on the information so far available, the following matters appeared likely to be amongst those relevant to its. consideration of the application. 1. the supply of employment land; 2. the loss of Grade 2 agricultural land; 3. consideration of the potential need for Green Belt designation in North East Wales, in view of the Welsh Office Ministerial letters of 20 June 1997 and 23 March 1998; 4. the implications of the development on the trunk road network; 5. relevant national and development plan policies; and 6. whether any permission granted should be subject to conditions and, if so, the form they should take. The letter was stated to be the National Assembly's statement under Rule 6(10) of the Inquiries Procedures Rules, 1992. 3. Pre-Inquiry meetings were held at County Hall, Mold on 5 June and 12 July 2000. The Inquiry sat on the following days: September 5,6,7,8,12,13,14,15,20,21,22: December 12,14,15, 2000; January 3,4,9,10,11,12,17,18,23,24,25, 2001. Additionally, visits to the site and its surroundings (including an inspection of highways matters) and to alternative sites mentioned at Inquiry were made on six further days. 4. Flintshire County Council appeared at the Inquiry in support of the Applicants, the Welsh Development Agency. Objectors who appeared were W T Banks (Farming) Ltd; the trustees of the Shotwick Estate; the JSR Farming Group Puddington and District Parish Council; Burton Residents Association (all the foregoing were represented by the same leading Counsel, and are referred to in this report as the Grouped Objectors); the National Assembly for Wales Agriculture Department; the National Assembly for Wales Transport Directorate the Flintshire Green Party; Burton Mere Fisheries; and Councilors Heesom, Cattermoul and Rowlands. In addition, the Highways Agency (who did not give evidence) were represented by Counsel at the Inquiry session at which conditions were discussed. 5. Both at the Inquiry and in the writing of this report I have had the able assistance of my Assistant Inspector, Mr Andrew Freeman BSc (Hons), DipTP, DipEM, FRTPI, FIHT, MIEnvSc. Mr Freeman had particular responsibility for highways and ecological issues at the inquiry, and has been largely responsible for those sections of this report dealing with those matters, together with written representations. He has seen the entire report, at its final draft stage, and has, authorised me to say that he is in agreement with my conclusions and recommendations. 6. This report contains a description of the application site and its surroundings (including the highway network) details of the application proposals, planning history and policy, the gist of the representations made at Inquiry and in writing, and my conclusions and recommendations. List of appearances and documents are attached. FACTS NOT IN DISPUTE 1.0. THE APPLICATION PROPOSALS 1.1. The application dated 5 June 1997 (Core Document 1) was in outline with all matters of detail reserved for further approval. The development was described as being: "Business and industrial development (classes B1, B2 and B8 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987) including the erection of buildings, raising the level of part of the site, associated building, engineering and other operations and landscaping; and the creation of a nature reserve with vehicular access and car parking". The plan accompanying the application was drawing no 3219/1000/Revision B, a site plan to a scale of 1:10,000. The application site was outlined in red, and other land controlled by the applicant (including land in England) outlined in blue. The existing use of the site was described as "agriculture, lake, boat club, pumping station". 1.2. An Environmental Statement (core Documents 3-12a) accompanied the application, together with a non-technical summary, in accordance with the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988. These were: Volume 1 Main Text Volume 2 Illustrations Volume 3A Landscape and Visual Impact Volume 3B Surface Water Drainage Volume 3C Ecology (later supplemented by Document ref. CD7a) Volume 3D Agriculture Volume 3E Archaeology Volume 3F Transportation and Traffic Volume 3G Noise Volume 3H Dust Volume 4 Non-technical summary 1.3. The application was also accompanied by a Development Brief (Core Document 2) prepared by the WDA in consultation with Cheshire County Council. 1.4. In response to a letter date 5 December 1997 from the Welsh Office, the WDA subsequently provided supplementary environmental information comprising: i) A survey of water quality (Volume 31) (Core Document 13) ii) An assessment of the effect of traffic on air quality (Core Document 14) iii) An assessment of the effects of dust from the development (Core Document 15) iv) An assessment of road traffic noise associated with the development (Core Document 16) v) An assessment of the visual impact of the development (Core Documents 17 and 17a) vi) An assessment of the visual impact of traffic and associated highway improvements (Core Document 18) vii) An assessment of the quality of the dredged material for sustaining the planting(Core Document 19) viii) A survey of wintering birds (Core Document 21) ix) A water vole survey (Core Document 22) x) A survey of breeding birds (Core Document 23) xi) An assessment of ground water quality (Core Document 24) xii) A non-technical summary to the supplementary information (Core Document 24a) 1.5. In response to issues raised by the highways authorities, a Traffic Impact Assessment was submitted (Core Document 20), with a later updated supplement (Core Document 20a). 1.6. On 13 July 2000, a letter was sent to the Planning Inspectorate, setting out the basis on which the WDA now wished the application to be considered. The relevant parts of the letter were: “1. That the application and any planning permission granted pursuant to it be tied by condition to the matters set out below drawn from the submitted Master Plan, which was included as Figure 16 in the Environmental Statement that accompanied the application when submitted. The Master Plan establishes, inter alia, the following principles of size, scale, layout and design: • The sole vehicular access points to the proposed development (other than those to be used in an emergency) are to be from the Parkway and Toyota roundabouts on Shotwick Road.