02/01472/MIN WASTE RECYCLING AND TREATMENT FACILITY INCLUDING MATERIALS RECOVERY, COMPOSTING, BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT, CONTINUED LANDFILL, NEW ROAD AND RAIL ACCESS WITH CONTAINER LOADING AND & STORAGE 02/01468/MIN PROPOSED RAIL ACCESS AND RAIL RECEPTION AREA FOR PROPOSED WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY BOTH PROPOSALS BASED A AT BLETCHLEY LANDFILL SITE , BLETCHLEY ROAD, NEWTON LONGVILLE FOR Shanks Waste Services Limited The Proposals Members will recall that planning permission was sought for an Integrated Waste Management Facility at the Bletchley Landfill site. This was reported to a special meeting of the Development Control Committee on 11th October. It was resolved to refuse planning permission. Planning application No. 02/01472/MIN is seeking planning permission for a development similar to this earlier proposal but omits the Fluidised Bed Energy Recovery Plant. This facility was intended to remove energy from the processed waste through specialised incineration. It would have been contained within a building 63 metres high with two flues reaching 103 metres. It was this element of the previous proposal which raised most objection to the scheme. The applicants, therefore, now propose to export the processed waste from the site once the remaining landfill void around the proposed waste treatment facility has been filled. The second of the applications, currently being considered, is for an alternative location for the rail sidings and associated development and the proposed composting operation. This application is intended to be considered as providing an alternative location for the sidings and composting in relation to both alternative development proposals i.e. the facility, with or without the Fluidised Bed Energy Recovery Facility (FBEF). At the time of submission of the application, therefore, the Council was being asked to consider a combination of four possible alternative schemes:- (a) the original proposal with the FBEF with rail siding running parallel to the Bletchley to Bicester railway line. (b) the original proposal with the FBEF with the railway siding adjacent to the Blue Lagoon. (c) the development without the FBEF with the sidings parallel to the Bletchley to Bicester Railway line and \\MKC_PDC\CorpAdmin\Committee\2002-03\DEVELOPMENT CONTROL\12 FEBRUARY 2003\12-02-03_SHANKSREPORT.doc (d) the development without the FBEF with the sidings adjacent to the Blue Lagoon. With the refusal of the application for the development with the FBEF it is options C & D will currently fail to be considered. The Application Site – The Waste Recycling and Treatment Facility As with the previous planning application, the site extends to 155 hectares as this includes the existing landfill. The final landform of the landfill site would be altered from that granted planning permission early in 2002 to enable the Recycling and Treatment facility to be sited at the lowered ground level within the former brick clay pit. Again 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, again fall to Buckinghamshire County Council to determine. Similar to the previous proposal, 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 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. As previously, a new vehicular access consented with the planning permission for the recontouring of the landfill site would run parallel to the west coast mainline to link the proposed development with the Stoke Hammond by-pass when this is completed. 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 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 325 metres from the main development area. The Application Site - Rail Access and enclosed composting facility option B The alternative rail siding would be located along the western boundary of the Blue Lagoon immediately to the east of the proposed main development area. \\MKC_PDC\CorpAdmin\Committee\2002-03\DEVELOPMENT CONTROL\12 FEBRUARY 2003\12-02-03_SHANKSREPORT.doc Access to the siding would be via a single spur from the Bletchley to Bicester line entering the site from the west. The alternative location for the enclosed composting facility would fall wholly within Buckinghamshire County Council’s administrative area and occupy land currently used as a playing field which would be relocated. Access to the facility would be via an internal site haul road. The nearest residential property to the composting operation would be approximately 270 metres away again within Buckinghamshire County Council’s area. Development details – Waste Recycling and Treatment Facility The waste recycling and treatment facility consists 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. They would have shallow pitched eaves and be of a general industrial/commercial appearance. To the east of these buildings would be five similar ones 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 material recovery (3,940 sq. metres) and an early landfill store (3,660 sq. metres). A further building of 1,405 sq. metres would house a research centre. The proposed rail reception area includes a hall with a ground area of 2,800 square metres to contain composting clamps, a chipping/shredding building of 30 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 to screen vehicular noise substituted by a fence where space is limited would be provided. The final length of the road would run through a tunnel before reaching the main waste processing complex. Development details – Rail access and enclosed composting facility, Option B The single open line from the Bletchley to Bicester line would adjoin the waste processing complex from the west after crossing the Water Eaton Brook and the extreme north-west of the Blue Lagoon Country Park. At the point where the railway line runs between the proposed waste processing complex and the Blue Lagoon Country Park it would divide into two parallel tracks. One of these tracks would be used as a siding for the trains while the other would allow locomotives to run around the track in the siding. Trains may also need to be held in other sidings outside the site prior to entering or after exiting the site. As with the original siding proposal up to 3 trains a day would deliver waste to the site in containers. These containers would be unloaded from the train using overhead gantry cranes and transferred to slave vehicles to take them to the Waste Processing area via internal site roads. \\MKC_PDC\CorpAdmin\Committee\2002-03\DEVELOPMENT CONTROL\12 FEBRUARY 2003\12-02-03_SHANKSREPORT.doc As with the original proposal, the enclosed composting facility would process green waste in clamps where the moisture and oxygen level would be regulated. Once composting has been completed the material would be stored on a surfaced area. CHANGES TO THE PLANNING APPLICATION Since the submission of the current applications, the applicants are proposing changes to the planning applications and to enter into a legal agreement and other legal arrangements to constrain development on the application site. In particular, Shanks have covenanted not to develop an incinerator, on their land at Bletchley. They are also prepared to enter into a legal agreement to constrain the capacity of that part of the proposal which will process the waste to two thirds of the capacity of that originally proposed, restrict the area from which waste can be imported by road to a thirty mile radius, reduce the amount of waste delivered to the site by road by the equivalent amount imported to the site by rail and to provide a civic amenity site in the vicinity of the application site. The applicants have also agreed to a requirement to restrict the waste imported to the site to that which has been subject to a kerb- side recycling programme. 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.