Plot 19, Motorpoint, Glasshoughton Stadium Business Park Environmental Statement: Non-Technical Summary

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1 Environmental Statement: Non-Technical Summary Report prepared by: Ecus Ltd. Brook Holt 3 Blackburn Road Sheffield S61 2DW February 2013

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3 INTRODUCTION This Non Technical Summary (NTS) forms part of the Environmental Statement (ES) to accompany a Planning Application by Beck Haynes Associates on behalf of Motorpoint Ltd and Waystone 32 Limited for the construction of a new and used vehicle supermarket facility to include sales showrooms, outdoor display canopy, display parking and ancillary workshop accommodation on Plot 19 of Summit Park, Glasshoughton Business Park in West Yorkshire (National Grid reference (NGR: SE ) (Figure 1). Figure 1: Site Location The application area consists of an approximately ha vacant development plot. The location of the site is shown in Figure 1. The existing site forms part of the land known as Summit Park (originally part of the former Glasshoughton Colliery) with extant outline planning permission for B1, B2 and B8 industrial, office and distribution uses. These applications have been recently resubmitted and approved for renewal to extend the time limits (original applications 06/01285/FUL and 06/01286/FUL renewed through applications 12/01352/RPP and 12/01353/RPP). Planning permission for such redevelopment uses has existed since 1999 following closure of the colliery. The site is bounded by the M62 to the south and the Leeds-Goole railway to the east and north, Glasshoughton Community Stadium development is adjacent to the north. The area is on the edge of Castleford, West Yorkshire with the town centre located approximately 2 km to the north of the site.

4 THE DEVELOPER This Planning Application has been prepared and submitted by Beck Haynes Associates on behalf of Motorpoint Ltd and Waystone 32 Limited (The Applicant). Waystone have been successfully developing the former Glasshoughton Colliery site here for the past 20 years for a variety of employment, retail and leisure uses in close collaboration with Wakefield Metropolitan District Council (WMDC). THE ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT The ES has been prepared by Ecus Ltd and technical specialists to accompany the Planning Application in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations It includes consideration of potential effects to the environment that may occur throughout the life of the project including during the construction, operational and decommissioning phases. The potential for cumulative effects to occur in conjunction with other major schemes in the vicinity has been included within the assessment of impacts. SITE SELECTION AND LAYOUT DESIGN Consideration of design alternatives has been undertaken as an intrinsic part of the scheme development and the proposed scheme has been through several design iterations, to achieve the final layout whilst minimising the environmental impacts. The design process also proceeded in response to consultation with WMDC. assessments were used to inform the design of the design in an iterative way. THE PROPOSED SCHEME Early The proposed scheme comprises a Planning Application covering approximately ha of land comprising plot 19 of Summit Park including the access road and a net developable area if 2.9 ha. The proposed layout is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Proposed Development Layout

5 The proposed scheme comprises a planning application covering approximately ha of land for the construction of a new car showroom, sales forecourt and workshop facility. The site is split into sales areas accessible by the general public and ancillary areas which are accessible by authorised staff and appointed delivery personnel. There will be 2216 m 2 floor space and a gross external buildings footprint of 5450 m 2. The building height varies up to a maximum of approximately 7.1 m to the workshop building and 6.5 m to the showroom entrance as defined on the application drawings. Building materials will comprise prefabricated insulated metal cladding systems and steel frame. The construction procurement will be undertaken through a competent main contractor arrangement. The construction period is anticipated to be in the region of 6 months on site. Construction methods will be prefabricated wherever practically possible to enable the construction programme and site works to operate to a minimum in terms of timescale and disturbance. Mitigation control of dust and mud will be undertaken by the contractor in accordance with prepared method statements. CONSULTATION AND SCOPING Various pre-application consultations have taken place in relation to this development, the outcomes of which are summarised below. Initially a meeting took place at WMDC offices on 15 th May 2012 to discuss the feasibility of constructing a car supermarket and ancillary facilities on this site. The meeting raised no objections in principle, subject to an application for a full planning permission due to the Suis Generis nature of this use. A written request by BHA for an Environmental Impact Assessment Screening was submitted to WMDC planning department on 21st June 2012 with a response received on 5th July 2012 requesting an Environmental Statement to include the following reports: Flood Risk Assessment Land and Groundwater Contamination Report Air Quality Assessment Ecology/Biodiversity Report Bancroft Consulting Ltd, the applicant s traffic consultants, have agreed in principle the content of the traffic impact assessment and the green travel plan with the highways department. The Transport Assessment and Travel Plan have been submitted separately within the application. Consultations have taken place between Ecus Ltd and WMDC Environmental Health Department and the Planning Department to agree the requirements and of the Environmental Statement, particularly in relation to the content of the flood risk assessment and air quality assessment. PLANNING POLICY The Development Plan for Wakefield currently comprises the Local Development Framework and the Regional Spatial Strategy for Yorkshire and the Humber. However the RSS will be revoked on 22 nd February Therefore it is not expected that it will be a material consideration for this planning application. Local Development Framework The Wakefield Local Development Framework comprises the following documents:

6 Core Strategy (Adopted 15 April 2009); Development Policies (Adopted 15 April 2009); Central Wakefield Area Action Plan (Adopted 17 June 2009); Waste document (Adopted 9 December 2009); Site Specific Policies (Adopted 12 September 2012) Unitary Development Plan First Alteration Saved Policies and Proposals in relation to retail, town centres, leisure and open space (September 2007). Policies Map Policies and allocations within the Development Plan that are of relevance to the proposed development are discussed below. Further detail is provided within the Planning Statement. The Core Strategy and Development Policies documents of the Local Development Framework were adopted in 2009 and largely replace previous policy from the Wakefield Metropolitan Borough District Council Unitary Development Plan. Core Policies of particular relevance include CS1, 4, 8, 10 and 13 which relate to the encouragement of development in appropriate locations with high accessibility. They also support sustainable transport and appropriate design, safety and environmental quality throughout development. Development policies of relevance to this proposal relate are summarised as follows: Policy D 3 Protecting Employment Land. Policy D 4 Sites Designated for Biological or Geological Conservation. Policy D 5 Ecological Protection of Watercourses and Water Bodies. Policy D 6 Wildlife Habitat Network. Policy D 9 Design of New Development. Policy D 12 Landscape Design. Policy D 14 Access and Highway Safety. Policy D 15 Safety and Security Through Design. Policy D 20 Pollution Control. Policy D 22 Contaminated Land. Policy D 24 Flood Risk. Policy D 25 Drainage. Policy D 28 Sustainable Construction and Efficient Use of Resources. The Site Specific Policies Local Plan document of the Local Development Framework, adopted on the 12th September 2012, identifies the site of the former Glasshoughton Colliery and Coking facility as Special Policy Area 5 (SPA5) on the Policies Map. The citation highlights the importance of the issues of contaminated land, air quality, traffic and transport in relation to proposed further development of the site. The key policy objective for the site is identified as to provide employment and skills development opportunities for local residents. The Council will seek to secure these opportunities as far as possible. Policy SSP1 Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development states that when considering development proposals the Council will take a positive approach that reflects the presumption in favour of sustainable development contained in the National Planning Policy Framework and Planning applications that accord with the policies in this Local Plan

7 (and, where relevant, with polices in neighbourhood plans) will be approved without delay, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Wakefield Metropolitan District Council adopted the First Alteration of the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) in January The policies contained within the UDP are now largely replaced by the Wakefield Local Development Framework (LDF) documents, described below. However, a number of policies in the UDP are saved until such time that they are replaced by policies contained within the LDF documents. Saved policies exist for retail and leisure policy areas and, where appropriate, are related to specific areas of the district. A single saved policy is relevant to the proposed development, Policy S1 Out-of-Centre Retail Development. The National Planning Policy Framework In March 2012 the Government published the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This document replaces all previous Planning Policy Guidance/Statements and confirms that Development Plan documents will need to revised to take into account policies in the NPPF. The NPPF introduces a presumption in favour of sustainable development. The presumption in favour of sustainable development should be seen as a golden thread running through both plan making and decision taking. It is stated that the Government is committed to securing economic growth in order to create jobs and prosperity. The Government is committed to ensuring that the planning system does everything it can to support sustainable economic growth. There are no known emerging policy documents or other material circumstances, relevant to the development, which suggests that the proposed scheme is inappropriate. ECOLOGY AND NATURE CONSERVATION An assessment of the ecological impacts of the proposed development has been carried out by Ecus Ltd following the guidelines set out by the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. The assessment process has identified and evaluated a number of key ecological features within, and adjacent to, the application area. This included survey of habitats and species within the application area. Consultation was undertaken with statutory nature conservation organisations and other wildlife interest groups and this, along with the field survey, helped to ensure that all habitats and species that may be affected by the development were fully considered. The site is not designated for nature conservation. The site is dominated by bare ground with small areas of ephemeral vegetation becoming established. The site does not support buildings, trees or any other vegetation. No signs of species protected under nature conservation law were recorded on site at the time of survey, and no records of any other species protected under nature conservation law are known from within 2.5 km of the application area. Due to the general lack of vegetation present the site is not considered to be of importance to nature conservation outwith the immediate zone of influence. The proposed scheme will include landscaping which should where possible use native species of local provenance. Consideration could be given to including of bird nesting boxes on new buildings for the benefit of nature conservation. AIR QUALITY The air quality impacts associated with the proposed development at Plot 19 of Summit Park have been assessed by Air Quality Consultants Ltd. Existing conditions within the study area show poor air quality, with concentrations of nitrogen dioxide exceeding the annual

8 mean objective along the M62 motorway. An Air Quality Management Area has been declared for this area, which includes the Motorpoint site. Whilst there will be increased traffic emissions arising from the additional traffic on local roads from the development, the increase in traffic flows on nearby roads has been found to be sufficiently small that a quantitative air quality assessment is not required. The air quality impacts associated with road traffic emissions from the proposed development are therefore deemed to be negligible. The construction works have the potential to create dust. During construction it may therefore be necessary to apply a package of mitigation measures to minimise dust emissions. Even with these measures in place, there remains a slight risk that the Teva factory car park might be affected by occasional dust-soiling impacts. Any effects will be temporary and relatively short lived, and will only arise during dry weather with the wind blowing towards a receptor, at a time when dust is being generated and mitigation measures are not being fully effective. The overall impacts during construction are judged to be negligible. LAND AND WATER CONTAMINATION The Land and Water Contamination assessment was undertaken by Ecus Ltd. The site is currently disused and the development of the site will introduce new receptors to any soil contamination on the site during the construction and operational phases of the work. Identified new receptors introduced to the site will be as follows: ground workers during the construction phase, employees on the site during the operational phase, customers and visitors to the site during the operational phase, and concrete substructures including foundations, drainage, etc. Fill materials placed on the site may contain elevated contaminant concentrations and therefore there is potential for ground workers to be exposed to soil contamination during the construction phase of the development without appropriate mitigation. The potential acute impacts on the health of ground workers during the construction phase can be mitigated by adopting best-practice hygiene, welfare, training, monitoring, dust control and waste management procedures. Assessment of the risk to site end users from exposure to contaminated soils concluded that the risk to site end users from exposure to these soil contaminants is low. In addition the proposals involve installing asphalt car parking and buildings over the large majority of the site area. This will result in a significant reduction in the potential for exposure of future site users to any soil contamination by breaking the potential contaminant pathways. The fill materials mean that there will be a requirement for underground concrete structures to have protective measures against aggressive chemical reactions. These potential impacts can be mitigated by adopting suitable concrete mixes and additional protective measures applicable to the relevant ground conditions and application of concrete substructure. The proposed development will require being surfaced with impermeable asphalt or buildings reducing the rate of infiltration of precipitation. All precipitation falling on the site will be collected and diverted to an engineered drainage system reducing the potential for contaminated fill material being deposited within the ponds. FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT Flood Risk Assessment was undertaken by Ecus Ltd as the proposed scheme was over 1 ha in area. The proposed area of development is relatively flat-lying, with the east of the site lying at 42 m Above Ordnance Datum (AOD), and the west lying at 39 m AOD, this fall occurring over a distance of approximately 150 m, giving a gradient of 1 in 50. The western and southern boundaries of the site are formed by a steep slope, approximately 14 m to 16 m high.

9 The site lies wholly within the Environment Agency s Flood Zone 1. However, flooding can occur from more minor watercourses than those modelled by the EA. Minor watercourses are present adjacent to the site s southern and western boundaries. Information provided by the EA does not show any records for historical flooding at the site. However, not all flood events may have been historically recorded. The assessment showed that the site is at minimal risk of major flooding from fluvial, reservoir, canal or tidal sources, overland flow/surface water or ground water sources. In addition, it has been demonstrated that the development will not have an adverse affect on flood water storage/displacement at the site, and will not increase surface water run-off at the site. The site area to be developed will require the provision of infrastructure in order to drain surface water from the site into the pre-existing site-wide drainage system. A detailed drainage design for the site will therefore be required, with the design to be agreed with the Local Authority and local water company. CONCLUSIONS This Non Technical Summary has outlined the findings of the Environmental Impact Assessment for proposed development at Plot 19, Motorpoint, Glasshoughton Stadium Business Park. Full details of the assessments undertaken are set out in the Environmental Statement and accompanying technical appendices. Further information on the scheme design, planning policy and community interest package are contained within the Planning Application documents. No significant residual environmental impacts are anticipated to result from any aspect of the development as proposed. The development will provide creation of high quality jobs that can be filled predominantly from the existing local catchment of the Park. In the absence of the regeneration it is likely that the contribution that the Park makes to the local economy will decline in future and it is harder to attract high quality businesses to the Park in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The full Environmental Statement and its technical appendices have been distributed to WMBC and key consultees. It is available for public inspection on the WMBC website and at their offices during the statutory consultation period.