Planning objection help

Mee

Apologies if this is the wrong place.
I would welcome experience of others.
 In short the office block nearby wants to adapt the building to make it lab-space ready. The adaptations - erection of a substation,  numerous DX Units, roof and ground floor ventilation and emission infrastructure suggest (there is a lack of detail on this) it will be wet-labs with their associative chemical and waste hazards. The area is also in a flood zone (3).

In essence it is a change of use from offices to industry, but does not explicitly apply for a change of use.

The noise impact assessment shows a failure to adhere to British Standards and government advice - no use of windshield and only one monitoring point  (on the building itself) etc.

Can I object on some of those 'technical' issues?

The council is keen to expand lab space, but we already have similar developments nearby and I think many see laboratories as benign or or somehow clean, but they can be  industrial in function and operation.

It seems from the timing of the letter and wording in the application and documents that both parties seem to think this is a forgone conclusion and may be it is, but I think I have to try to highlight concerns about the proximity to residents of new hazards and the inadequate impact assessments.

Thanks

ic

What's a DX unit?  Why does it need a wind shield?  How nearby is nearby?

Mee

ic said:

What's a DX unit?  Why does it need a wind shield?  How nearby is nearby?

Hi, Sorry for the late reply.

DX= Direct Expansion cooling systems
Windshield - required. "You must use microphone windshields for every acoustic measurement"
Method implementation document (MID) for BS 4142 - GOV.UK
Nearby = 15-20 meters from homes, 10 meters from car park.

Thanks

Baldytyke88

Mee said:

Apologies if this is the wrong place.
I would welcome experience of others.
 In short the office block nearby wants to adapt the building to make it lab-space ready. The adaptations - erection of a substation,  numerous DX Units, roof and ground floor ventilation and emission infrastructure suggest (there is a lack of detail on this) it will be wet-labs with their associative chemical and waste hazards. The area is also in a flood zone (3).

In essence it is a change of use from offices to industry, but does not explicitly apply for a change of use.

The noise impacts assessment show a failure to adhere to British Standards and government advice - no use of windshield and only one monitoring point  (on the building itself) etc and one photo shows the removal of a key heritage landmark  from the image, and elevations (possibly not applied for) which are slowly obscuring said view. I have taken my own photo of the same view that illustrates this.

Can I object on some of those 'technical' issues?

The council is keen to expand lab space, but we already have similar developments nearby and I think many see laboratories as benign or or somehow clean, but they can be  industrial in function and operation.

It seems from the timing of the letter and wording in the application and documents that both parties seem to think this is a forgone conclusion and may be it is, but I think I have to try to highlight concerns about the proximity to residents of new hazards and the inadequate impact assessments.

Thanks

With nearby residential housing it could be objected to on several grounds, including increased noise, traffic, and potential environmental concerns. If the change involves external building work, planning permission is almost always required. Additionally, the local planning authority (LPA) may have policies in place to protect residential areas from incompatible industrial uses.

Ask for a detailed flood risk assessment, pointing out it's a level 3.

Have you looked at the planning application online, there will likely already be reports from highways and environment.

Yorkie1

There was some proposed development behind my house, and I contacted a local planning consultant who came out and gave me verbal advice on what I could properly say in objections, and what wouldn't hold any water. It was a couple of hundred quid, if memory serves me right.

Mee

Baldytyke88 said:

Mee said:

Apologies if this is the wrong place.
I would welcome experience of others.
 In short the office block nearby wants to adapt the building to make it lab-space ready. The adaptations - erection of a substation,  numerous DX Units, roof and ground floor ventilation and emission infrastructure suggest (there is a lack of detail on this) it will be wet-labs with their associative chemical and waste hazards. The area is also in a flood zone (3).

In essence it is a change of use from offices to industry, but does not explicitly apply for a change of use.

The noise impacts assessment show a failure to adhere to British Standards and government advice - no use of windshield and only one monitoring point  (on the building itself) etc and one photo shows the removal of a key heritage landmark  from the image, and elevations (possibly not applied for) which are slowly obscuring said view. I have taken my own photo of the same view that illustrates this.

Can I object on some of those 'technical' issues?

The council is keen to expand lab space, but we already have similar developments nearby and I think many see laboratories as benign or or somehow clean, but they can be  industrial in function and operation.

It seems from the timing of the letter and wording in the application and documents that both parties seem to think this is a forgone conclusion and may be it is, but I think I have to try to highlight concerns about the proximity to residents of new hazards and the inadequate impact assessments.

Thanks

With nearby residential housing it could be objected to on several grounds, including increased noise, traffic, and potential environmental concerns. If the change involves external building work, planning permission is almost always required. Additionally, the local planning authority (LPA) may have policies in place to protect residential areas from incompatible industrial uses.

Ask for a detailed flood risk assessment, pointing out it's a level 3.

Have you looked at the planning application online, there will likely already be reports from highways and environment.

Thanks - those are many of the points I will be making. But many of my questions are not answered by the application and supporting documents, no info. on class of labs.
We live in a water stressed area and no reference is made to how increased demand or pollution risks will are addressed.

I'm becoming even more cynical by the day.
I discovered there is another multi-national investment company involved not named in the application. They bought the building and adjoing building recently, and are advertising the site as 'Life Sciences Campus'! They've already emptied the building and it just seems like they think it is a tick box exercise.

I also spotted the site notice today - it looked like newly printed paper (unlaminated) tied with string to a lampost. There is no way that has been there for the required time as it has rained quite heavily in the intervening time.

Albermarle

Any laboratory using hazardous chemicals will be very strictly controlled and inspected regularly.
For sure they can not just pollute the local environment with them.
There could be many things to object/worry about these developments, but this aspect is probably not one of them.

Mee

Baldytyke88 said:

Mee said:

Apologies if this is the wrong place.
I would welcome experience of others.
 In short the office block nearby wants to adapt the building to make it lab-space ready. The adaptations - erection of a substation,  numerous DX Units, roof and ground floor ventilation and emission infrastructure suggest (there is a lack of detail on this) it will be wet-labs with their associative chemical and waste hazards. The area is also in a flood zone (3).
...

With nearby residential housing it could be objected to on several grounds, including increased noise, traffic, and potential environmental concerns. If the change involves external building work, planning permission is almost always required. Additionally, the local planning authority (LPA) may have policies in place to protect residential areas from incompatible industrial uses.

Ask for a detailed flood risk assessment, pointing out it's a level 3.

Have you looked at the planning application online, there will likely already be reports from highways and environment.

Fortunately The Environment Agency has come to the rescue and objected on grounds of flood risk (FZ3) and water stress.