Agenda item

Report of the Planning and Development Manager regarding unauthorised land tipping to land rear of 63 Botany Bay Road, attached.

The Panel considered the report of the Planning and Development Manager seeking authority to serve an Enforcement Notice and a permanent Stop Notice to prevent further unauthorised tipping of waste on land rear of 63 Botany Bay Road and to remediate the appearance of the land and thereafter prosecute any breaches of those Notices where expedient to do so in the Courts.  (Copy of report circulated with the agenda and attached to the signed minutes).

Mr Coe (Agent for the landowner) and Mrs Langley, Mrs Nicholson and Mrs Gonzalez (Local Residents) were present and with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

RESOLVED

(i)  that authority be given to the Planning and Development Manager to decide whether or not EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) development is involved within Schedule 2 of the TCP Regulations 1999  to adopt a screening opinion regulation 25(2) and if it is, to issue a screening  opinion with the regulation 25 notice;

(ii)  that authority be given to the Solicitor to the Council to serve a Change of Use Enforcement Notice before 31^st March 2011 relating to the unauthorised change of use of the land from the mixed use of residential and open land to the mixed use of residential, open land and land used for the importation, tipping and deposit of refuse and waste materials requiring:-

-  the cessation of the importation, tipping and deposit of refuse and waste upon the land;

-   the removal of brick/building materials and  rubble that have been deposited on the land, identified in the location and photograph shown inAppendix B;

-  the removal of the tipped waste from within the curtilage of 73/73a Botany Bay Road, identified in Appendix A to a licensed tip within six months of the Notice taking effect;

-  within one month of the notice taking effect, the submission to the Local Planning authority of a slope stability survey of the tipped material identified in the geo-station survey undertaken by Encompass Surveys (Drg. ENC-070211-738) and dated February 2011;

-  within one month of the submission of the slope stability survey, the submission of a scheme for the Local Planning Authorities approval to remediate any instability of the tipped material; such scheme to deal with the method of stabilising the tipped material, the time scale for implementation of the scheme, a scheme of planting to landscape the tipped material and the recording of the extent of the tipped material;

-  such other steps as the Solicitor to the Council considers appropriate to remediate the breach of planning control;

(i)  that authority be given to the Solicitor to the Council to serve a permanent Stop Notice before 31^st March 2011 to prevent further unauthorised importation, tipping and deposit of refuse and waste; and

(ii)  that authority be delegated to the Solicitor to the Council to pursue any breaches of these Notices in the Courts, should further tipping occur at any point in the future or should the requirements of the enforcement notice not be met.

The unauthorised tipping of waste and related engineering operations to raise the level of land in the affected area has had a detrimental effect on the environment and is also likely to be prejudicing public safety in the following ways:-

• has caused an ordinary watercourse to be diverted and is likely to have caused harm to a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation(Shoreburs Greenway);
• has created a mound of unknown stability which could harm the amenities of occupiers of adjoining land, should it subside, where such tipping has already encroached onto neighbouring land.  Such raising of land levels has also created an oppressive sense of enclosure to occupiers of neighbouring land;
• the tipping of waste materials is unsightly and harms the visual amenities of the area particularly from  the Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (Shoreburs Greenway);

REASON FOR DECISION

The unauthorised tipping of waste and related engineering operations to raise the level of land in the affected area has had a detrimental effect on the environment and was also likely to be prejudicing public safety in the following ways:-

• has caused an ordinary watercourse to be diverted and is likely to have caused harm to a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation(Shoreburs Greenway);
• has created a mound of unknown stability which could harm the amenities of occupiers of adjoining land, should it subside, where such tipping has already encroached onto neighbouring land.  Such raising of land levels has also created an oppressive sense of enclosure to occupiers of neighbouring land;
• the tipping of waste materials is unsightly and harms the visual amenities of the area particularly from  the Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (Shoreburs Greenway);

The reasoning stated for serving the recent Temporary Stop Notices was therefore given as:-

The depositing of waste materials on the identified land - (most of which is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation) - is considered to be harmful to the visual amenities of the area and outlook and safety of occupiers of adjoining property.  It has the potential to cause contamination and general harm to the environment and adversely affect the quality of groundwater, notably a stream, which has been caused to be diverted from its original alignment.  It is also the most likely cause for a public sewer to have collapsed, which resulted in a pollution incident.  The unauthorised tipping activity is therefore considered to be contrary to the following policies of the Development Plan for Southampton set out below:-

City of Southampton Local Plan Review (March 2006)

SDP1 (i), SDP7 (i)/(ii)/(v), SDP9, SDP12, SDP23, NE4 and CLT3

City of Southampton Local Development Framework Core Strategy (January 2010) - CS13 (6)/(7)/(10), CS21 and CS22