Waste Recycling @ Bath, Fosseway Environment Park, Fosseway, Englishcombe, Bath, Bath and North East Somerset
Erection of two buildings in association with the existing waste and recycling facility along with parking and landscaping.
The proposal site is with the Green Belt and the indicative setting of the World Heritage Site, and is very close of the Cotswold National Landscape. The site is located on a gateway route into the city from the south-west (A367).
The northern boundary of the site, that adjacent to the A367, is formed of vegetation with what appears to be some bunding. Glimpses of the existing building at the northern end of the site can be obtained from the highway. To the south of the site, towards Combe Hay Lane, there is what appears to be an established area of vegetation.
Application 14/00839/EMINW (Proposed erection of residual waste facility including a materials recovery facility, anaerobic digestion plant, reception building, weighbridge, outdoor storage areas and other ancillary development. (Outline application with access to be determined all other matters reserved) was approved on 4 August 2014.
Application 15/00741/MRES (Approval of Reserved Matters in relation to application 14/00839/EMINW for the proposed erection of residual waste facility including a materials recovery facility, anaerobic digestion plant, reception building, weighbridge, outdoor storage areas and other ancillary development) was approved on 17 August 2015.
In terms of justification for the proposed scheme, it appears that the buildings are proposed to be used as part of the wider recycling facility that processes and stores recycled material moving the processes that currently occur outside, under the cover of the proposed buildings. This is to allow for both improvements to the process – rainwater not washing material away etc. – and in turn to allow for the reconfiguration and improvement to the parking and overall circulation of the site.
If the Local Planning Authority are minded to permit the application, then it is recommended that the officer/decision maker(s) consider attaching conditions to the decision regarding the following.
It is not evident that any lighting provision has been referred to via the application or indeed if any is intended; however, given the location of the site the following may be useful in drafting a condition(s).
Limiting the time of use of lighting, limiting the light levels to a designed conformity, limiting the use of lighting schemes to identified uses or users, specifying lamps, luminaires and columns, specifying the need for full horizontal cut-off, the design, height and position/angle of the lighting, the retention of screening vegetation, the use of planting and bunding to contain lighting effects, the future maintenance of the lighting schemes and post-installation checks in accordance with the original design and planning approval and in exceptional circumstances, the granting of temporary planning permission to enable a review of lighting impacts after installation.
With regard to planting, that this is subject to a suitable schedule including species, location, density, maintenance and retention. Consideration should be given to securing planting of suitably mature species prior to the erection of the 2no. buildings.