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.

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News: Council considering vote of no confidence in Environment Agency

Rotherham Council is set to discuss whether to put forward a vote of no confidence in the Environment Agency (EA) over its handling of the controversial reopening of Droppingwell tip.

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 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. These include groundwater and landfill gas monitoring requirements, the construction of engineered bunds and a system to collect and treat surface water.

The last update from EA in July 2022 was that the site was "pre-operational" whilst permit holders, Grange Landfill Ltd, installed engineered infrastructure to meet the requirements of the Landfill Directive to ensure that the proposed landfill activity at this site will not impact on the local environment.

The necessary engineering works for the first waste cell on Grange Landfill were almost complete in July, and the EA said that it expected the submission of a validation report sometime during August 2022.

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Numerorus issues have been raised by the community regarding the operations. Opponents say that "works carry on, without the proper level of scrutiny and regulation of the Environment agency. This has led to dozens of complaints that have been escalated to stage 2 and several are now sitting with the office of the parliamentary ombudsmen."

At full council next week, local councillors, Ian Jones and Rob Elliott have put forward a motion regarding the EA.

Councillors are being asked to vote on whether the council believes that: "Due to the ineffective nature of the Environment Agencies regulation, its inability to take any kind of enforcement action, the members of the public in Rotherham West and this council no longer have any confidence in the Environment Agency."

It adds: "Mirroring the thoughts and wishes of the residents of Droppingwell, Blackburn and Kimberworth, this council should pass a motion of No Confidence in the Environment Agencies [sic] handling of the site.

"That the Chief Executive be required to write to the head of the Environment Agency and the Government minister impressing on them the need for a full, open and transparent public enquiry into the re-permitting and ongoing lack of regulation of the site."

The Council has previously said that it had exhausted all options in regard to how it could prevent the activity that was going on at Droppingwell Tip. The Government has also confirmed that it will not intervene in the planning issue at Droppingwell and use powers to revoke or discontinue the planning permission and to fund any compensation claims.

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News: Update on Droppingwell tip

The Environment Agency (EA) and Rotherham Council have provided updates on the controversial tip reopening at Droppingwell where the operator has not yet completed works to prepare the site for full operation and to fulfil the requirements of the Environmental Permit.

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 in 2016 which allows for 150,000 tonnes of inert waste to be imported, and 55,000 tonnes of waste for restoration, each year.

On site works have been temporarily paused by the operator, Grange Landfill Limited, due to priorities elsewhere, and plant has been removed from site. The operator has not yet confirmed as to when works may recommence at Grange Landfill, but the Environment Agency anticipates that the operator will recommence activities on site early in 2022.

An update from the EA reads: "Once all engineering works to comply with the permit conditions are complete the operator will submit a validation report to the Environment Agency. If we are satisfied that all conditions have been met to the required standard, the Operator will be given permission to operate the landfill site.

"Please note that no waste disposal activities will commence until our Regulatory Specialists are fully satisfied that the landfill infrastructure has been engineered to the relevant standards."

Opponents, including residents, users of nearby football and golf facilities, the council, and the local MP, have raised concerns regarding traffic, noise and other impacts on the local area which has changed since the original plans were approved in the 1950s.

A council report shows that the authority served a Planning Contravention Notice (PCN) to Grange Landfill Limited in September 2021, keen to find out how they intend to comply with the conditions attached to the 1958 planning permission, specifically to condition 3 which stated that "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."

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Local residents were concerned that Condition 3 was being breached during the preparation of the site for the new tipping operations.

However, the report adds that "the Council does not have any evidence to suggest that there has been a breach of planning control at this time but that this would not prevent enforcement action in the future should there be a breach of the conditions and it was deemed expedient to do so."

The position follows on from the Government confirming that it will not intervene in the planning issue at Droppingwell and use powers to revoke or discontinue the planning permission and to fund any compensation claims.

As well as planning issues, the report provides an update on the access road to the Grange Landfill site which is on land owned by the Council. Risks have been raised by visitors to Millmoor Juniors Football Club and the Council continues to keep its legal position under review.

On public rights of way situated across the Grange Landfill site, the Secretary of State has been asked to make a decision regarding a number of claimed rights of way.

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News: Government washes its hands of Droppingwell tip planning permission

Despite original plans being approved in the 1950s, the Government has confirmed that it will not intervene in the planning issue around a controversial tip reopening in Rotherham.

When landfilling operations ceased at the Droppingwell site, the planning permission and environmental permit allowing landfilling activity in January 1978 remained in place. The EA granted a permit variation 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 operator, Grange Landfill Limited, is working under the conditions of the environmental permit, to install engineered infrastructure to meet the requirements of the permit to ensure that the proposed landfill activity at this site will not impact on the local environment. This includes the importation of inert waste for use in construction, which is legally allowed under the terms of the Permit.

It is thought that the conditions of the Environmental Permit have not yet been met, and full landfilling operations are not able to commence.

Opponents, including residents, users of nearby football and golf facilities, the council, and the local MP, have raised concerns regarding traffic, noise and other impacts on the local area which has changed since the original plans were approved in the 1950s.

The Council has looked in detail at the contents of the 1958 planning permission and considered all of the information provided to a public inquiry in 1992 and determined that legally relevant planning permission is in place.

An update to councillors states that the Council has now had a response from the Government regarding revoking planning permission at the site.

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The update reads: "The Council last wrote to the Secretary of State on 26th February 2021, to ask them to use their powers under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to revoke or discontinue the planning permission and to fund any compensation claims from the Government purse. Whilst additional information has been requested by, and provided to, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government in March 2021.

"A response was received from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on 14th July 2021. MHCLG conclude that they: “…do not consider it would be expedient for the Secretary of State to exercise his powers to revoke planning permission or to discontinue use of land in this case.”"

The authority had already ruled out using Section 102 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in terms of the potential for making a discontinuance order on the site. Any discontinuance would be subject to compensation and the Council calculated this to be potentially in excess of £20m.

A statement from the Council on the issue explains: "The Council does not have the financial resources to pay at that level of cost. In addition, the Council is unlikely to be able to justify the proportionality of spending such a large amount of local public money on a single planning issue without contravention of our value for money and financial fiduciary requirements."

Any Order made by the Council would not take effect unless it was confirmed by the Secretary of State, either without modification or subject to such modifications as the Secretary of State determines.

Section 104 of the Act gives the same power directly to the Secretary of State should they consider it expedient to use it. The Council decided that the best way forward in terms of the site is for the Secretary of State to intervene, and to use their powers to revoke or discontinue the Planning permission.

The response this month seems to rule out any Government intervention.

The update to councillors also highlights temporary traffic regulation orders to try and prohibit large vehicles in the area, issues over the access road, public rights of way, site security and the ongoing monitoring of the area. The Council also admitted that, despite the authority's stance on the issues, 30 lorry loads of waste were carried to the tip from contractors working on council-backed housing schemes.

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