On the 17th July Cambridgeshire County Council Planning Committee unanimously approved planning permission for an anaerobic digester at Streetly Hall Farm. Because this application fell under waste and minerals policies it was considered by the County Council instead of the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service.
The Parish Council, Cllr. Henry Bachelor and 3 individuals from West Wickham and Streetly End made representations to the committee objecting to the application. The planning officer recommended approval and ultimately our objections were outweighed by the fact that, apart from the Landscape officer, all the other statuary consultees recommended approval or offered no objections.
The committee also spent time exploring whether the applicant can be mandated to create a community fund so local parishes can benefit financially from the presence of the development. Unfortunately, the legal advisor said this was not permissible. They will be recommending such a fund should be created but this will not be binding or enforceable. S.106 funding obligations that could apply to other forms of development are not applicable to this application.
Personally, I would urge people not to blame the planning committee members for this decision. They considered the application diligently and discussed whether there were grounds for objection that were sufficient to overrule the planning officer’s recommendation. Planning legislation does not take into account the popularity of an application and decisions are made by attributing ‘weight’ to policies that are often contradictory. The bar for an officer to recommend refusal is very high. For example, the highways officer openly admitted that adding another junction to the A1307 ‘isn’t a great idea’ but planning legislation says that unless the proposal is demonstrably ‘unacceptably dangerous’ they cannot recommend refusal on safety grounds.
National legislation is stacked in favour of development of this nature and unless the grounds for refusal are irrefutable the decision would likely be overturned on appeal. Losing an appeal would waste council funds as well ultimately risk the council’s authority to determine any planning applications. It is not possible to appeal against the granting of planning permission.
Whilst this decision is disappointing for many of us it is now important that the Parish Council work constructively with Streetly Hall Farm to minimise the impacts on our Parish. The planning committee have added a condition that a liaison committee will be established to help the community work with the operators of the facility so that issues can be raised and addressed.
Cllr. Dave Sargeant
Vice Chairman, West Wickham Parish Council.