DEVELOPMENT SERVICES PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR DECISION 6th SEPTEMBER 2016 Ladies and Gentlemen, The applications within this report have been submitted for determination under the Town and Country Planning Acts and associated legislation. All applications within this report are “Delegated” to this Committee but can be moved “Non-Delegated” by a Member of the Committee under the terms adopted for the Scheme of Delegation approved by Council, 16th May, 1994. Any such motion needs to be accepted by a majority of Members of the Committee present (Council, 8th August, 1995). All applications left as Delegated will be decided by the Committee and will not be subject to confirmation by Council. The application plan numbers also refer to files for the purposes of background papers. Jason Hipkiss Planning Manager PLANNING COMMITTEE th 6 September 2016 PLAN NUMBER: APPLICANT: AGENT: 2016/0354 Mr Jon Cooper Centrica Mr Richard Turner Distributed Generation Ltd RPS Planning and Development WARD/PARISH: CASE OFFICER: DATE RECEIVED: Roosecote Charles Wilton 29/04/2016 01229 876553 STATUTORY DATE: 11/08/2016 LOCATION: Former Roosecote Power Station, Rampside Road Barrow-in-Furness PROPOSAL: Town & Country Planning under regulation 5 (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011- Screening opinion in relation to a proposed gas-fired electricity generating plant SAVED POLICIES OF THE LOCAL PLAN: SUMMARY OF MAIN ISSUES: Proposal is not considered to be EIA development. Whilst the development site area exceeds 0.5 hectares and is therefore Schedule 2 development, it is likely to only have an environmental impact of local significance. NON MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS: REPRESENTATIONS: CONSULTATIONS: OFFICERS REPORT: 1. Background 1.1 The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England & Wales) Regulations, also known as the EIA Regulations, and recently updated in 2011, form part of the development control system in England and relate to certain types of development. The Regulations evolved from a European Union Directive and give planning authorities a means of ensuring that they can take account of the environmental Page 1 of 75 PLANNING COMMITTEE th 6 September 2016 implications of individual developments in their decisions on planning applications. The Regulations also place a number of responsibilities on planning authorities, which relate to the different stages of the EIA process. 1.2 Only certain types of development are subject to the Regulations, and the process by which this is determined is called 'screening'. A developer can ask the planning authority to give a screening opinion prior to submitting their application, or the Authority can adopt a screening procedure during the consideration of it. This is purely a technical exercise, and there is no formal requirement to consult third parties. 1.3 The Regulations include two lists of different types of development projects, Schedules 1 and 2. 1.4 1.4 Schedule 1 identifies major projects for which EIA is mandatory (e.g. integrated industrial chemical plants, large scale thermal and nuclear power stations). 1.5 The second list, called Schedule 2, categorises the types of proposals for which EIA may be required, and cites an area threshold for each category above which a screening opinion should be carried out. Under this legislation, only a development in Schedule 2 that exceeds the threshold and is likely to have ‘significant effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as its size, nature or location’ would require the submission of an Environmental Statement. 2. Site 2.1 The application site comprises an area of vacant land which was formerly occupied by the Roosecote Power Station including gas works, fuel tanks, pumping house and ancillary operational buildings, prior to it being demolished in 2015. The total application site comprises an area of 0.6 hectares. 2.2 The site is located between the coast to the west and substantial industrial development, namely Roosecote Substation to the north, Salthouse Pool waste water treatment works to the North West, Rampside Gas Terminal to the south and undeveloped land to the east. The Site is accessed via a private road some 500m in length off the A5087 (Rampside Road). 2.3 A public right of way runs to the west of the site as part of the Cumbria Coastal Way (CCW). The CCW is separated from the site in parts by small trees and scrub. Beyond the CCW, further west, Roosecote Sands is characterised by sand dune scrub and dense salt marsh plants. 2.4 The built up area of Roose is approximately 600m from the proposed development. 3. Proposal 3.1 The proposed development is described on the submitted application form as “development of a gas-fired reserve electricity generating plant”. The applicant refers to the proposed development as a gas-fired energy reserve facility within the accompanying Planning Statement and associated reports. Page 2 of 75 PLANNING COMMITTEE th 6 September 2016 3.2 The proposed gas-fired energy reserve facility comprises the following: A main engine hall, having a maximum footprint of 54m by 28m, and a maximum height of 14m. The engine hall building is proposed to house up to five small gas engines. Attached to the engine hall will be up to five stacks, to a maximum of 30m in height. The engine hall building is proposed to be of steel clad construction with a pitched roof and central ridge; Installation of ancillary plant and infrastructure on hardstandings to include: o A gas skid, comprising 8m x 24m and at a height of 9m. o An 11kv transformer, which is situated behind a protective wall of 19m by 9m, and at a height of 9m. o An electrical switch-room of 8m by 10.5m, and 3.5 m high. o 5 no radiators which are 5m by 16m, and 4.5m high. o Water and oil tank (each being 3m by 5m, and 4m high); 3 m high open mesh steel panel security fence with double site access gates, covering a 315m perimeter. 2 no car parking spaces 3.3 The facility will have a direct connection into the local gas network. 3.4 The radiators are to be located along the eastern side of the development within the application site, and the engine hall on the western side, with the chimneys along the western edge of the engine hall. The electrical switch-room and transformer are proposed to be sited on the northern side of the application site, with car parking in the north-eastern corner. 3.5 Proposed lighting will comprise passive infrared sensor activated Light Emitting Diode (LED), and will be mounted on buildings at a height of 10m, to provide visibility for security and maintenance purposes. 3.6 The proposed development is to be managed remotely, and for the majority of the time, will be unmanned. Routine maintenance checks will however need to be undertaken intermittently. 3.7 The facility will be operated as a highly flexible ‘peaking plant’ to respond quickly to peaks in demand, and will be limited to operating 1,500 hours per year. 3.8 The facility will have an output of up to 50MW. 4. Assessment 4.1 The development does not fall within Schedule 1 of the Regulations. Page 3 of 75 PLANNING COMMITTEE th 6 September 2016 4.2 It is considered that the proposed development falls under Schedule 2, 3(a) which relates to ‘industrial installations for the production of electricity, steam and hot water’. The proposed development does exceed the relevant indicative threshold in column 2 of the table. The site area covered by the development is approximately 0.6ha; slightly larger than the 0.5ha threshold in the column 2. 4.3 Section 3 of the EIA Regulations contains the selection criteria for screening Schedule 2 development, which are grouped in to three main categories: 1) the characteristics of development; 2) the location of development; and 3) the characteristics of the potential impact. 4.4 With regard to category 1): the characteristics of the proposed development are not, in themselves, likely to give rise to any significant environmental effects because: o the proposed development in terms of its size in context with the existing industrial setting is relative and appropriate; o the cumulative impact of the proposed development together with the approved energy storage facility (B12/2016/0372) will not result in significant environmental effects; o the thermal output of the development does not exceed 50MW; o the use of natural resources, production of emissions, and nuisances, are not likely to be of a scale to generate significant environmental effects. 4.5 With regard to category 2) the location of the proposed development is not, in itself, particularly likely to give rise to significant environmental effects. The site itself is not in an environmentally sensitive geographic area (in terms of protected and designated areas), it is however within 150m of Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary potential Special Protection Area (pSPA), Morecambe Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Morecambe Bay Ramsar Site. The site is also notified at a national level as South Walney & Piel Channel Flats SSSI. 4.6 The applicant has submitted a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) Screening report which has confirmed that the proposed development would not result in significant effects on designated sites. Natural England is in agreement with the conclusions of the HRA. The proposed mitigation is sufficient and the continued management of the mitigation site would provide some benefits to the SPA featured species, as specific habitat would be provided and managed. 4.7 With regards to category 3) the characteristics of the potential impact of the proposed development are not, in themselves, particularly likely to give rise to signifcant environmental effects because: a) the extent of the potential effects of the development is important and signficant at a local scale.