Issue - meetings

Application for works associated with the construction of the proposed A487 Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass including;

·         Use of land as an extension to the existing site compound area and provision of a maintenance shed, office accommodation, welfare and car parking facilities, fuel store, sewage storage tank, mobile concrete batching plant, mobile asphalt batching plant and construction of a haul route (temporary use),

·         Construction of a new haul road on the northern boundary of the existing quarry with temporary connection to the proposed A487 Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass route during the construction period,

·         Continued extraction of minerals, removal of material from a mineral working deposit and existing stockpile of materials,

·         Construction of a hardstanding and siting of plant machinery for the processing and screening of materials,

·         Disposal of inert waste materials for long-term quarry engineering/ restoration works.

      (Application under Section 73 to vary Condition 3 on planning permission C17/0011/19/MW to reach the ground levels agreed in restoration plan no. 3030/16, excavation materials that are surplus to the requirements of the Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass project in addition to excavated materials from other sources, shall be deposited at the site in accordance with the NRW permit)

LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Peter Garlick

Link to relevant background documents

DECISION – To refuse the application

The proposal changes the scale or nature of the previously approved development for "works associated with the construction of the proposed A487 Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass ..." and, therefore, the Authority considers that condition 3 should not be changed in accordance with s.73(2) (b) of the Town and Country Planning Act.

Attention was drawn to the late observations form

a)    The Planning Manager highlighted that application C17/0011/19/MW (approved in June 2017) was subject to conditions for development proposals associated with the construction of the Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass. It was highlighted that the application sought, under Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to vary one of those conditions. It was explained that Condition 3 restricted the import of surplus materials from other areas to what was generated by the bypass construction project.

It was explained that Section 73 enabled the applicant to submit an application to develop land without complying with conditions attached to an extant planning permission.  Under this section the Local Planning Authority may amend or remove conditions, but may not amend any other part of the permission.  A successful s.73 application results in the grant of a new planning permission and therefore the original permission remained intact.   When determining a s.73 application, the LPA may impose conditions beyond those proposed in the application.  However, the conditions imposed should only be ones that could have been imposed on the original permission.  Previously, it was held that the amendments permitted should not amount to a “fundamental alteration” of the proposal put forward in the original application.  The reasons why the officers considered that undertaking such a change would not be appropriate via a Section 73 application, were elaborated upon.

The Solicitor highlighted that the applicant had shared information / additional opinion with the Members and the response of Council officers to this opinion had been shared with the applicant in April 2020. 

b)    It was proposed and seconded to refuse the application

c)    During the ensuing discussion, the following observation by a member was noted:

·           Why had a new application not been submitted?

·           Concern that it would have an impact on the timetable to complete the bypass

·           That a new application should be submitted as a means of controlling what was placed in the quarry pit

ch) In response to an observation regarding the submission of a new application, it was noted that extensive discussions had taken place over the last few months and there were differing opinions regarding the right way forward. 

d)    In response to the observation regarding the application possibly preventing the completion of the bypass work, it was noted that the application related to filling a quarry pit with materials and it should not impair the bypass timetable.

RESOLVED to refuse the application due to the reason that the proposal changes the scale or nature of the previously approved development for "works associated with the construction of the proposed A487 Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass ..." and, therefore, the Authority considers that condition 3 should not be varied in accordance with s.73(2) (b) of the Town and Country Planning Act.