A criteria based policy should be sufficient for most waste facilities and it is accepted that forecasting the amount/type of land/facility required would be very difficult. There is also a potential concern that allocation could potentially sterilised otherwise developable sites and it is preferable to judge each case on merit against the criteria based policy.
Employment sites of a general industrial nature may be suitable for most waste facilities such as recycling or waste transfer. GBC’s Policy approach (LPD 44) for proposals to be located on employment land is to permit B1,2 and 8 uses and sui generis uses of a similar nature or is an employment use that is compatible with the nature of the employment site. The policy also includes the following important criteria:
“the proposal would not cause a significant adverse impact on the amenity of nearby residents and occupiers”;
GBC would recommend the two Waste Planning Authorities to include a similar principle relating to proposals being essentially compatible with the nature of the employment site and to include a criterion to protect local amenity as part of their criteria based policy.