Item 4 REPORT TO: Planning Committee REPORT NO. HEP/27/17 th DATE: 25 April 2017 REPORTING OFFICER: Head of Environment and Planning CONTACT OFFICER: David Williams (Ext 8775) SUBJECT: Development Control Applications WARD: N/A PURPOSE OF THE REPORT To determine the listed planning applications. INFORMATION Detailed reports on each application together with the recommendations are attached. RECOMMENDATION See attached reports. BACKGROUND PAPERS None. Page 11 REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING 25th APRIL 2017 Community Code No Applicant Recommendation Pages LLA P/2016 /0590 AVIAGEN TURKEYS LTD GRANT 13 – 24 MR HAZEL COE P/2017 /0004 MR R WHITLEY GRANT 25 – 32 ESC P/2017 /0053 MR PETER MOLLOY GRANT 33 – 41 ROS P/2017 /0072 NIGEL DARLINGTON REFUSE 42 – 45 LLR P/2017 /0123 MR GWILYM JONES GRANT 46 – 51 SES P/2017 /0165 MAELOR FOODS GRANT 52 – 63 MR MEHTA RHO P/2017/0174 MR STEPHEN WILLIAMS GRANT 64 – 68 OVE P/2017 /0203 MRS CHARLOTTE GRANT 69 – 71 ALLWOOD MAE P/2017 /0209 R T EVASON AND SON REFUSE 72 – 79 MAE P/2017 /0210 R T EVASON AND SON REFUSE 80 – 84 Number of Applications Included in Report - 10 All plans included in this report are re-produced from Ordnance Survey Mapping with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. WCBC Licence No. LA0902IL All plans are intended to be illustrative only and should be used only to identify the location of the proposal and the surrounding features. The scale of the plans will vary. Full details may be viewed on the case files. Page 12 REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING 25th APRIL 2017 APPLICATION NO: LOCATION: DATE RECEIVED: P/2016 /0590 ADJACENT TO RACKERY COTTAGE 22/06/2016 LAND OFF RACKERY LANE LLAY WREXHAM COMMUNITY: LL12 0PB CASE OFFICER: Llay PF DESCRIPTION: CONSTRUCTION OF 6 TURKEY WARD: REARING SHEDS, UTILITY AGENT NAME: Llay BUILDINGS, ASSOCIATED ACCESS PLATT WHITE ROADS, FENCING, LANDSCAPING PARTNERSHIP AND DRAINAGE WORKS MR DAVID LAMB APPLICANT(S) NAME: MR HAZEL AVIAGEN TURKEYS LTD ______________________________________________________________ THE SITE Proposed site Llay settlement PROPOSAL Planning permission is sought for the erection of six buildings to be utilised for the rearing of poultry. The buildings will accommodate up to 20,000 birds. The proposal also seeks to provide a new access and access road from Rackery Lane along with associated hardstanding around Page 13 REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING 25th APRIL 2017 the buildings. The six individual poultry houses are to be linked via a central corridor resulting in a range of buildings 63 metres wide by 150 metres long. The height of the buildings will be no higher than 5.5 metres. The feed silos (24 in total) are proposed between the poultry houses. For the benefit of Members, an extract from the submitted block plan is shown below. Proposed site layout Page 14 REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING 25th APRIL 2017 HISTORY None DEVELOPMENT PLAN The site is located outside any defined settlement limit. Policies PS2, GDP1, EC3, EC4, EC13 and T8 are relevant. Guidance is also contained in Local Planning Guidance Notes 16 – Parking Standards and 17 – Trees and Development. NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY Relevant national planning policy is contained in Planning Policy Wales (Edition 9) (PPW). These policies are supported by Technical Advice Notes (TAN) 5 – Nature Conservation and Planning, 6 - Planning for Sustainable Rural Communities, 12 – Design and 18 – Transport. CONSULTATIONS Community Council: Consulted 29.06.2016 Local Members: Notified 28.06.2016 Site notice: Expired 21.07.2016 Press Notice: Expired 29.07.2016 Highways: Given that the proposed development is only likely to result in one HGV movement every three days no objections are raised on highways grounds. Public Protection: No objection but recommend conditions to instigate contamination investigations due to proximity to former landfill site, air handling equipment noise restrictions and construction amenity nuisance controls. Natural Resources Wales: No objection subject to the inclusion of conditions to ensure the long term maintenance and management of great crested newt mitigations proposals. Welsh Water: Consulted 28.06.2016 Flood Officer: Advises that further testing be carried out to determine whether ground conditions can facilitate the use of soakaway techniques. Neighbouring occupiers: 51 neighbouring occupiers notified. Four representations received raising the following objections: • Concerns regarding animal welfare, noise, pollution, smell and traffic volumes and the nature of boundary enclosures; • The method of poultry rearing proposed is disgraceful and is not considered to be Page 15 REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING 25th APRIL 2017 a compassionate way of rearing livestock; • The site is potentially unsafe for the rearing of birds due to the presence of methane generated from the former landfill site nearby; • There may be a large accumulation of flies due to odour. One representation received raising the following points of support: • The proposal will result in much needed jobs and will boost the local economy; • The Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment demonstrates that because of the site topography and the proposed landscaping measures the impact upon visual amenity will be minimal; and • The development will make a positive contribution locally. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Policy: This proposal seeks to provide buildings and associated infrastructure for the rearing of poultry. This is an agricultural use proposed on land which is currently designated for agricultural purposes. The main issue to consider is whether the principle of the erection of the proposed buildings on this site is acceptable. UDP policy EC3 is relevant. New agricultural buildings are generally permitted provided that they do not have an adverse impact upon the environment or surrounding landscape. New buildings should form part of an existing farm complex and take advantage of existing landscape features and topography. Isolated buildings will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances where there is an essential agricultural need, and no reasonable alternative location for the development. Developments must also accord with policy GDP1 of the UDP. At a national level, PPW confirms that the priorities for rural areas are: • sustainable rural communities with access to affordable housing and high quality public services; • thriving and diverse local economy where agriculture-related activities are complemented by sustainable tourism and other forms of employment in a working countryside • an attractive, ecologically rich and accessible countryside in which the environment and biodiversity are conserved and enhanced Para 7.6.5 of PPW confirms that the Council is required to adopt a constructive approach towards agricultural development proposals, especially those which are designed to meet the needs of changing farming practices. Page 16 REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING 25th APRIL 2017 Para 3.1.2 of TAN 6 confirms that Planning authorities should support the diversification of the rural economy as a way to provide local employment opportunities, increase local economic prosperity and minimise the need to travel for employment. However para 3.1.3 confirms that expansion of businesses that are currently located in the open countryside can only be provided if there are no unacceptable impacts on local amenity. Para 3.7 of TAN 6 refers to farm diversification projects and the need to take a proportionate approach to public transport and the need for improvements to the local highway network. Buildings are required to be sensitively located and new buildings can be considered. Para 3.10 also states that farm plans can be useful to help support applications for farm diversification. Location of development: The application site is located immediately adjoining Rackery Lane and is accessed via a private driveway which forms the access to the former Astbury landfill site. The land immediately to the east of Rackery Lane forms part of the Llay settlement limit and is adjacent to the Llay Industrial Estate (North). The land in question, whilst agricultural, is not occupied by any existing buildings and the proposed building would not form part of an existing farmstead. As stated above, new agricultural buildings can be permitted where their design takes advantage of existing topographical landscape features, and where they are divorced from an existing agricultural complex, sufficient explanations can be made to justify the exceptional agricultural need to do so. The applicant acknowledges that the proposal would not accord with the guiding principles of policy EC3 and has provided an additional statement with the application to justify what it considers are the exceptional locational circumstances are behind this proposal. These are summarised as follows: • The applicant (Aviagen Turkeys Ltd (ATL)) is classed as a primary breeding company and maintains unique and irreplaceable pedigree turkey lines vitally important to the European and wider world’s turkey farmers; • The selection process for breeding birds has evolved over the years to include many more selection traits resulting in the need for new farming space. The original pedigree rearing farms built 30-40 years ago no longer meet this requirement; and • As a primary breeder at the top of the breeding