News: Landfill operators "breach planning conditions" at Rotherham tip site
Rotherham Council has served a planning enforcement notice against the operators of the Droppingwell Tip - an appeal has been subsequently lodged.
When landfilling operations ceased at the Kimberworth site, the planning permission and environmental permit allowing landfilling activity in January 1978 remained in place. The EA granted a permit variation from Grange Landfill Ltd in 2016 which allows for 150,000 tonnes of inert waste to be imported, and 55,000 tonnes of waste for restoration, each year.
The permit variation imposed a range of conditions that must be complied with, before any deposit of waste will be allowed.
The site currently remains pre-operational.
Investigating "every avenue" to stop the tip from reopening, Rotherham Council has now gone back to the 1958 planning approval and say that in preparing the tip for reopening, the operators have breached a condition regarding the amount of land "out of cultivation."
The 1957 plans include a condition that, for a third phase, "tipping operations shall be so arranged that not more than 5 acres of the land referred to shall be out of cultivation at any one period." This was to protect agricultural use and the ammenity of the area.
The permit to repoen the tip requires preparation works including the creation of bunds around containment cells and planning documents say that the bunds have been erected in a rectangle approximately 215m long x 110m wide and 10m high.
Rotherham Council planners say that even though the bunds have been covered in topsoil, they cannot be classed as being in cultivation. When added to the land used for the tipping waste, roads, storage area, compound, lagoon, ditches and top soil heap, the works carried out exceed the 5 acre limit for land out of cultivation.
When issuing the enforcement notice in March, planners measured some 7.42 acres out of cultivation and gave operators three months to revert the land back so that no more than 5 acres was out of cultivation.
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Instead, Grange Landfill has employed agents to appeal the enforcement notice and a planning inspector will now judge the case.
Agents argue that the 1958 permission does not clarify what is meant by the word "cultivation" and say that the topsoil applied to parts of the constructed bunds has been grass seeded and "are considered by the Appellant to be not out of cultivation." The same is argued for the the base of Cell 1 which has not been stripped of topsoil and remains grassed until tipping can start.
Compared to Rotherham Council's assesment of 7.42 acres, Grange Landfill contends that the area out of cultivation comprises 3.27 acres.
At the same time as the planning appeal goes ahead, Rotherham Council has launched a call for evidence relating to the accessway at Droppingwell Tip.
The access road to the tip is on land owned by the Council, with the owner of the tip, Grange Landfill Ltd, claiming a right of access over the land. Grange Landfill Ltd have provided information to support their claim and the Council is asking the public for any information they may have.
Rotherham Council’s Assistant Director of Legal Services Phillip Horsfield said: “The Council is inviting anyone with additional information on the use of the accessway to provide this to the Council. A legal assessment of any additional information will then take place to ensure that all information has been taken into account when considering these complex legal issues.”
The call for evidence will remain open for two months, up until the June 12.
Images: Google Maps
When landfilling operations ceased at the Kimberworth site, the planning permission and environmental permit allowing landfilling activity in January 1978 remained in place. The EA granted a permit variation from Grange Landfill Ltd in 2016 which allows for 150,000 tonnes of inert waste to be imported, and 55,000 tonnes of waste for restoration, each year.
The permit variation imposed a range of conditions that must be complied with, before any deposit of waste will be allowed.
The site currently remains pre-operational.
Investigating "every avenue" to stop the tip from reopening, Rotherham Council has now gone back to the 1958 planning approval and say that in preparing the tip for reopening, the operators have breached a condition regarding the amount of land "out of cultivation."
The 1957 plans include a condition that, for a third phase, "tipping operations shall be so arranged that not more than 5 acres of the land referred to shall be out of cultivation at any one period." This was to protect agricultural use and the ammenity of the area.
The permit to repoen the tip requires preparation works including the creation of bunds around containment cells and planning documents say that the bunds have been erected in a rectangle approximately 215m long x 110m wide and 10m high.
Rotherham Council planners say that even though the bunds have been covered in topsoil, they cannot be classed as being in cultivation. When added to the land used for the tipping waste, roads, storage area, compound, lagoon, ditches and top soil heap, the works carried out exceed the 5 acre limit for land out of cultivation.
When issuing the enforcement notice in March, planners measured some 7.42 acres out of cultivation and gave operators three months to revert the land back so that no more than 5 acres was out of cultivation.
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Instead, Grange Landfill has employed agents to appeal the enforcement notice and a planning inspector will now judge the case.
Agents argue that the 1958 permission does not clarify what is meant by the word "cultivation" and say that the topsoil applied to parts of the constructed bunds has been grass seeded and "are considered by the Appellant to be not out of cultivation." The same is argued for the the base of Cell 1 which has not been stripped of topsoil and remains grassed until tipping can start.
Compared to Rotherham Council's assesment of 7.42 acres, Grange Landfill contends that the area out of cultivation comprises 3.27 acres.
At the same time as the planning appeal goes ahead, Rotherham Council has launched a call for evidence relating to the accessway at Droppingwell Tip.
The access road to the tip is on land owned by the Council, with the owner of the tip, Grange Landfill Ltd, claiming a right of access over the land. Grange Landfill Ltd have provided information to support their claim and the Council is asking the public for any information they may have.
Rotherham Council’s Assistant Director of Legal Services Phillip Horsfield said: “The Council is inviting anyone with additional information on the use of the accessway to provide this to the Council. A legal assessment of any additional information will then take place to ensure that all information has been taken into account when considering these complex legal issues.”
The call for evidence will remain open for two months, up until the June 12.
Images: Google Maps
8 comments:
Landfill Operators - right up there with property developers, asset strippers, bankers, News of the World journalists, disgraced royalty and tax dodgers
You forgot Covid partygoers, lawyers, and white van drivers
It's a pitty the council didn't listen to the action group earlier, all the evidence to push this case forward has been supplied by the action group with state of the art geo terrain mapping and crop programmes, even then they had to keep pressure up to do anything
Well done Droppingwell action group
When the full truth is revealed of how Rotherham’s Labour Council have constantly back heeled this situation and left the residents high and dry, Rotherham’s Labour empire is going to come crashing down FAST.
Why don't you reveal the truth? After all, you can do it anonymously.
As the new King would say, "We are all ears"
And Mike Ashley
And continuing the theme of tips:
Massive Wednesday = another year in Division 1
Bus stop near Sheffield = another year in the Championship
Enjoy it the two Michaels
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