Campaigning for the countryside in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
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The Lancashire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural
England
Hazelwell House,
Station Road,
Bamber Bridge,
Preston,
Lancashire,
PR5 6TT
Tel: 01772 627510
Email: ruralengland@btconnect.com
Registered Charity Numbers : 221244 and 1107376
The Lancashire Branch of CPRE is a Company Limited By Guarantee registered in England, no. 5291461
Lancashire CPRE is a charity and provides all the content of these pages free of charge to the general public.
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Landfill Sites
What is the current situation in Lancashire?
Lancashire’s stated policy (in the current Structure Plan 1991 - 2006 Greening The Red Rose County) on new applications for waste management facilities is that planning permission will not be granted where the completion and restoration of existing landfill sites would be seriously prejudiced. It is also policy that the amount of land given over to landfill development will be progressively reduced (see also Mineral and Waste Local Plans prepared by the Planning Authority).
What considerations are taken into account in planning applications?
Landfill planning applications raise questions of traffic, proposed hours of operation, access, appearance, restoration, after-use, effects upon neighbouring land use and upon the amenity of the locality. Waste may be treated as either a district or a county matter. An environmental statement may be required. Where planning permission is given for landfill sites conditions or obligations may be imposed by the local planning authority. Landraising may also provide an appropriate method of waste disposal providing it can be designed to blend in with the surrounding landscape.
What actions might give rise to complaint?
Any landfill site operator or proposed developer must hold or obtain a licence from the waste regulators at the Environment Agency. Since the 1 May 1994 when the new Regulations came into force the fitness of the applicant to run such a site is a consideration. Sites are licensed to deal with a particular kind of waste and cannot accept waste for which they are not licensed. Special or hazardous waste is primarily a county matter.
The main problems associated with the running of landfill sites are odour, mud deposited on roads, litter blowing from the site, operating outside permitted hours.
What remedies are available?
Site visits by either the local planning authority or the waste regulators at the Environment Agency may result in enforcement actions or in serious cases a revocation of the operating licence.
Keys to Action
Proposed waste management facilities should only be approved in accordance with the Structure Plan. A mandatory environmental assessment would be carried out by the site operator. (see page on Environmental Impact Assessment). The Environment Agency as regulator holds licence details.
Other Information
Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 S.I. 1994/1056
DOE Circular 11/94 Environmental Protection Act 1990: Part II Waste Management Licensing, The Framework Directive on Waste
Section 39 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 introduces a new pollution control system for the management of completed landfill sites. The holder of a licence can only surrender it when the Environment Agency issues a ‘certificate of completion’.