®Planning appeal decision
Hownsgill Industrial Estate, Consett, Durham, DH8 7EQ
an Energy from Waste Facility. Summary of Recommendation: The appeal be allowed and planning permission be granted subject to the conditions outlined in Annex E. 1. PROCEDURAL AND BACKGROUND MATTERS 1.1 The Inquiry was in respect of an appeal against the refusal of planning permission for an Energy from Waste (EfW) Facility which has been recovered for determination by the Secretary of State by letter dated 26 May 2022. The reason given for the recovery was that the appeal involves proposals giving rise to substantial regional or national controversy. 1.2 A case management conference was held on 20 June 2022 to discuss administrative and
- Authority
- Durham County Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- minerals-waste · Major general industry/storage/warehousing
- Inspector
- Normington S
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Principle of development on the Hownsgill Industrial Park
- Waste disposal or recovery?
- Need for the proposed facility
- Character and appearance
- Effect on heritage assets
- Climate change
- Effect on economic development
- Alternative sites and technology
- Benefits of proposed development
What decided it
The Secretary of State's finding that the proposal would cause very significant landscape and visual harm to the character and quality of the landscape and the Area of Higher Landscape Value, resulting in conflict with Policy 39 and the development plan as a whole, which was not outweighed by the scheme's benefits.
The significant benefits of the waste facility (need and waste hierarchy benefits, energy/catalyst benefits, moderate weight biodiversity net gain and Solar Farm completion, limited weight climate change, EV charging and economic benefits) were outweighed by the very significant harm to landscape character and the AHLV, tipping the balance against the proposal and resulting in dismissal.
Framework references: 56, 57, 154, 155, 174, 176
Plan policies cited: Policy 2, Policy 29, Policy 38, Policy 39, Policy 44, Policy 47, Policy 61, Policy 61(a)
The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.