I have been asked to publish an update on the progress of the provision of this equipment. The short answer is not a lot!!
The longer answer is that it was in June 2010 that Biggleswade Town Council applied for planning permission. Details can be found on the Central Bedfordshire Council website. Planning application CB/10/02226 - Recreation Park Kitelands Road Biggleswade. This gives a schedule and pictures of the proposed equipment.
One of the questions on the application relates to contaminated land. The answer was in the negative but it is fairly common knowledge, that the recreation ground was built over contaminated land and is included in the Register of Contaminated Land, described as Pit 72, which was once used for depositing commercial and household waste. There is no need for alarm as the site was capped off properly and I know that regular methane and surface water run off testing is carried out.
I pointed out to the Central Bedfordshire Planning Officer that the application should be declared invalid as the application was incorrect. I was told I should bring any issues up within the consultation period which was ending on 23rd July 2010. I supported the application but pointed out again that the application should be declared invalid.
On the 26th July the Planning Officer agreed and wrote to the Biggleswade Town Council Agent:
“ I refer to your planning application received 14 June 2010 in respect of the above, and write to advise you that this cannot be continued with owing to the following reasons:
1. During the statutory consultation process I have been made aware that this land is a former landfill site. This land is considered to be contaminated. Question 15 should have been answered and an appropriate contamination assessment should have been submitted. This application has been subsequently made invalid due to this information. This application will not be made valid until new application forms are submitted reflecting this information and the contamination assessment. A judgement can then be made about the appropriateness of this development. It is important to establish how deeply the landfill is buried to ensure the foundations of the play equipment would be safe, and also to ensure there would not be any significant dangerous substances or gas, there might also be issues arising over taking any matter away from the site.
It would be appreciated if the above requirements could be provided by 16th August 2010 in order to validate your application. Please quote the application reference at the top of this letter when responding. If I do not hear from you by this date, your application will be withdrawn and returned to you.
Apparently no action was taken on this letter until the Town Council meeting of 24th August. The application by this time was invalid. I was at the meeting and none of the Councillors seem to understand what the letter meant. They had never had to do this before, which is worrying since the contaminated land register came into effect in 1990.
It was “resolved” that Councillor Peter Vickers would discuss the application with CBC planning Department and report back to the Town Council.
Prior to the 28th September Town Council meeting I wrote to the Town Clerk:
The above application was sent back because your agent stated that the site was not contaminated or part of the site was not suspected to be contaminated.
It seemed to be common knowledge that the site was either contaminated, or adjacent land was contaminated . This was apparently not known by your agent and I am surprised that completed application forms are not shown to you before they are sent in.
As far as I know there were no objections to the application. The letter dated 26th July 2010, from the Planning Officer, Annabel Gammell gave you the opportunity to validate the application, by submitting an appropriate contamination assessment by 16th August ,which you have failed to do.
Contaminated land assessments were not a requirement when other applications were submitted for Kitelands. They are in this case, a paper exercise, gathering information from the various agencies and could have easily been completed within the timescales.
The minute shown for the 24th August 2010 Town Council Meeting is simply not correct. The application can be continued with and could have been validated and can still be resubmitted, albeit now with another planning fee, providing it is accompanied by a contamination assessment.
I do not recall ever getting a response from the Town Clerk.
At the 28th September 2010, Town Council meeting, (I was there), Peter Vickers said that he had spoken to David Lamb of Central Bedfordshire and they could either provide a contamination assessment or ask the company providing the play equipment to carry out a risk assessment.
On 14th January 2011 the Biggleswade Town Clerk wrote to CBC advising them that they were awaiting a test pit to be dug and a risk assessment carried out.
On the 2nd February 2011 the CBC Minerals and Waste Team Leader advised me:
I share your concerns that any development carried out in this area should have due regard to the site's past history as a landfill site. Our records on the site are limited and very general. This has been made available to the Town Council's agents. The suitability of any part of the site for any particular development is likely to be subject to wide variations. The more detailed a survey carried out will provide a clearer picture and enable a better risk assessment by an appropriately qualified person.
However, as the development appears to be permitted by virtue of the General Development Order (GDO) the local planning authority cannot condition or insist upon the level of appropriate investigation. This of course does not exempt a developer from responsibilities under other legislation.
In May 2011 I was told that the Council needs to approve the costs of a soil survey for the plans to advance on the new play equipment.
I was then told in June 2011, the soil survey will be on the agenda of the Public Lands and Open Spaces meeting of the 9th August 2011. It was not on the agenda and the play equipment was only brought up in the public open session at the end of the meeting. The minutes say –“The Town Clerk advised that he was currently waiting 2 forms of information for a survey to be undertaken to move forward. This item would be brought to the next Council Meeting”. The TC also advised that he would send an email to all Councillors updating them. It was not on the agenda of the next Council Meeting.
In September 2011 the subject was being pursued with Councillor W P Smith, Chair of the Public Land & open Spaces Committee as since it appears that the information given in the past had not been wholly reliable.
On the 5th November 2011 I was told that the soil testing had still not been carried out. The Council are awaiting for a new quote for the work, having originally obtained one there was a delay meaning they had to go out to tender again. Apparently the Town Clerk has a heck of a lot of work on at the moment.
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