Biomass boiler plans near school face Welsh Government call-in

A council’s planning committee will consider next week whether to refuse plans for a biomass boiler on a site next to a primary school.

Unusually, members of Wrexham’s planning committee will not be able to grant permission when it meets on Monday as the Welsh Government is considering calling the application in under the Town and Country Planning  Act.

The site in question is Thorncliffe Building Supplies in Queensway. The applicant has requested permission to install a biomass boiler – which burns waste wood pellets – on-site with a flue and a five metre square fuel store to keep pellets.

The boiler technology is a low-carbon option – producing less CO2 than traditional fuel boilers. But there are other associated emissions including nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide.

Concerns have been raised by Caia Park Community Council, on the grounds that ‘potential pollution could have an adverse effect on the area, in particular Gwenfro Valley and Gwenfro School which are in close proximity to the site’.

Community objections echoed those concerns, which centre around emissions from the the exhaust flu and how they would affect the health of pupils at Gwenfro Community Primary School.

In their report officers stated that the site is within a Smoke Control Area and would have to meet certain criteria if approved.

“The applicant would need to ensure the development accords with the requirements of the Clean Air Act 1993,” they wrote. “The proposed biomass boiler is a Defra-exempt appliance, which is a requirement when this type of equipment is to be installed in a Smoke Control Area.

“The proposed boiler would burn fuel in a cleaner manner than standard appliances. Under Section 20 of the Clean Air Act 1993 it is an offence to emit smoke from a chimney of any building in a Smoke Control Area, subject to an allowable ‘lighting up period’. As such, there are appropriate controls under other legalisation should there be continuous smoke emissions from the proposed boiler.”

But while planning committee members can refuse permission for the application on Monday, they will not be able to grant permission until after the Welsh Government has completed its call-in process.

“Article 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) Order 2012 (DMPWO) enables Welsh Ministers to give directions restricting the grant of permission by a local planning authority,” said the Head of Planning Casework in the Welsh Government’s Local Government and Planning Directorate Hywel Butts.

“I am authorised by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning to issue such directions and, in exercise of this authority, I hereby direct Wrexham County Borough Council not to grant planning permission.

“This direction prevents your authority only from granting planning permission; it does not prevent the authority from continuing to process or consult on the application. Neither does it prevent the authority from refusing planning permission.”