Landfill site fails to secure 20 year lease extension

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

A waste site has been refused a 20-year license extension after councillors raised concerns about the type of waste it was being used for.

The Brookhill Landfill site on Pinfold Lane in Buckley was granted a two year extension as councillors expressed concern about the types of waste being processed there.

The site – used as a waste transfer ‘slab’ to temporarily house and sort waste before sending it for landfill, recycling or processing – was scheduled to close in 2019 when Parc Adfer waste-to-energy facility came on-stream, but Flintshire County Council has continued to use the site.

Gully waste

When the authority’s planning committee received an application to extend Brookhills license or 20 years however, local members raised concerns about the materials being taken to the site. It has been used for gully waste – waste collected by road sweepers – and aggregate.

Buckley, Pentrobin Cllr Mike Peers said: “The last variation of the planning conditions specifically mentioned the fact that the development and activities should cease on the opening of the North Wales residual waste treatment plant at Parc Adfer. Are we in breach because obviously that hasn’t happened?

“The existing operations entail the import of 1,920 tonnes per annum of street sweeper and gully waste. That was never part of the most recent variation which was for food and green waste. We have also seen aggregate there. We do not have permission, in my view, for what is taking place.

“This site is being used for anything they can think of. It does say in the report that it may be decided for other uses in future. This is not the way planning should operate.

“Given the fact this is being operated outside the given planning permission, the temptation to use it for all sorts of waste for 20 years is frankly unacceptable.

“All this application is looking for is to extend its use. If the council wishes to consider a future use it should come through the correct planning process.”

‘Unacceptable’

Buckley Mountain Cllr Carol Ellis, who represents the ward in which Brookhill sits, added: “Residents were hoping the opening of Parc Adfer would mean the site was no longer required.

“This application was granted temporary permission in April 2001 ref 032208 for the life of the landfill which was 10 years. A extension was granted temporary permission in 2007 till 2011 and a further extension until 2013.

“The slab was expected not to be used after Parc Adfer opened. Surely a further extension up to 20 years is unacceptable.

“I accept this is a complicated situation which has been inherited. The council now has three roles: it is responsible for the site operation, is the applicant in this case and is the Planning Authority.

“Each role has slightly different legislation to apply, but overall the authority should be setting a good example of how to operate.

“There is little justification given in the application as to why the slab will need to be retained for an additional 20 years. I would suggest that any further temporary approval is limited to two years to allow time for substantive negotiations with StreetScene or the application is deferred for such negotiations now.”

Cllr Peers proposed approval for two years to provide time for a detailed planing application on the specific use of the site to be prepared.

Responsibility

Charlie Pope, senior planning officer for Flintshire for the North Wales Minerals and Waste Planning Service said: “The issue is essentially our responsibility as a waste management authority means we need a facility that deals with this waste. While we produce green waste and food waste and drive cars that create gully waste we will be in a position of statutory responsibility to deal with the waste that comes in through the door.

“The existing facility already operates well, its near an industrial estate and is allocated in the plan so if not there, where?

“This type of material does need to be dealt with over the next 20 years. All waste going into the site is permitted by the Natural Resources Wales environmental permit.”

But Cllr Peers held firm that the council needed to know exactly what waste the site was processing.

“Approving two years gives Streetscene time to prepare a proper planning application – this one is open-ended,” he said.

“We’ve seen agregate there. Within the two years I think we need to do some work and see a proper application come to this committee for its future use.”

Planning committee backed the two-year extension to allow StreetScene to produce a fresh proposal for the site including details of precisely what waste will be processed there.